Dang Shen (Codonopsis Pilosulae) Soup

I don't boil herbal soup that often but PiggyBeng loves this 'dang-shen' or 'yu-chai' (in Hokkien) soup very much so to make him happy I bought all the neccesary ingredients to prepare his favourite soup. I am very caution when I take herbal soup these days as I am still nursing Darrius. Not too sure which herbs are suitable to be consumed for nursing mothers... I will avoid taking any unless I know of their attributes as I am afraid it will affects my milk production.

One thing good about preparing herbal soup is... you can just dump everything in and after 3 hours... bowls of hearty soup on the table. For those who do not have time to boil it over the stove can actually boil it using slow cooker... just boil it longer... about 5-6 hours.

The following recipe is to serves about 4 person. The lesser the water, the thicker the soup... so it's tastier... :) When purchasing the herbs, just tell the medical hall person that you are preparing the soup for 4 and they will weight the appropriate amount of the ingredient for you.

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Ingredients

• Pork ribs or 1/2 lao-mu-ji (old hen)


• 3L Water (or depending on how many pax you are preparing for)


• Dang Shen - the ginseng look-alike


• Shan Yao (Chinese Yam /Dioscorea Opposita) - the white pieces


• Yuk Chok (Solomon's Seal /Polygonatum Officinale) - the thin yellowish slices


• Red dates (seedless)


• Dried longans - the brown looking stuff


• Chinese Wolfberry (Fructus Lycii) - the tiny red stuff

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Method

1. When water boiled, add in the ribs and boil for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.

*All herbs' scientific names taken from www.foodnherbs.com

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