Huai Shan Chicken Soup

Huai Shan 淮山, also know as Shan Yao 山药 or Chinese Yam, is a commonly used Chinese herb in cooking, mainly because it is quite neutral and is good for the Qi. Before cooking, the light brown skin needs to be removed. Usually I'll give it a quick wash after removing the skin to get rid of the "slimy" feel before cutting them up. But after awhile the "slimy" feel will return again.. haha its just me, I don't like the "slimy" feel on my hands.

The lack of distinctive taste in Huai Shan makes it great for making soups, as the soups usually end up light and yummy..

Oh, and being a working mum, I love to use my thermal pot to cook soup the night before or before leaving for work. Easy, fast and energy saving!

Ingredients:
3 chicken drumsticks
300g fresh Huai Shan
20g dry scallops
800ml water
10 deseeded red dates
Wolfberries
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Add the chicken drumsticks and dried scallops to boiling water. Allow to boil for 15min.

2) Add in the prepared fresh Huai Shan, red dates and wolfberries. Continue to boil for another 5min.

3) Remove from heat source and transfer the inner pot to the outer pot. I left it inside until its dinner time, and season with salt just before serving.

Steamed Cod with Chicken Essence

All my life I'm never a person who drinks chicken essence. Didn't really believe in its benefits and not a great fan of its taste either. But having just given birth 7 months ago, I've SO MANY boxes of chicken essence at home! So I started cooking with them to clear stock while I was on maternity leave. And its only recently that I finally managed to tweak the seasoning so that it tastes so yummy that not a single drop of the chicken essence was wasted. Heehee..

I also made it a balanced meal by steaming some Hong Kong Chye Sim with the fish. All in 1 plate, healthy and minimal washing up :)

Please bear with my "agak agak" (estimated) recipe for the time being. I need some time to get used to having to measure my ingredients before pouring them in! :p

Ingredients:

Cod steak (or any fish fillets that you prefer)
Handful of Hong Kong Chye Sim
Light soy sauce
White pepper
1 bottle chicken essence
Wolfberries

Method:
1) Marinate fish with light soy sauce and white pepper. (Usually if I need to prepare this beforehand and leave to marinate in the fridge, I'll use lesser seasoning as there'll be time for it to absorb the seasoning so I don't want to risk it being overly salty by the end of the day!)

2) Lay the Hong Kong chye sim at the bottom of the plate, then lay the fish on top of the vegetables. Pour the bottle of chicken essence over the fish. Sprinkle the wolfberries over the fish. Steam for abt 15min (depending on how thick or how big is the fish steak).

Ta-dahhh we are ready to tuck in!

Important note: when steaming any dishes, it is important to only put in the food when the water is already boiling and start timing from there.