Veggie Chicken Soup (素雞 soup)

Veggie Chicken Soup (素雞 soup)

Finally! My first post~ After lagging and postponing it for so long, Justin persuaded me to post something even though it's so easy to make. - _-'''

For those of you like me who eat a lot of vegetarian meals during the week, you might feel frustrated at times about the selection of food for vegetarians. Ever since I started to eat more and more vegetarian dishes, I learned more about different options as well as ideas. Here's one super easy and quite tasty and nutritious dish- Veggie Chicken Soup (素雞 soup)

Ingredients:

1. One pack of 素雞*
2. Few slices of ginger
3. Handful of dried medlar, a.k.a Chinese raisin, 枸杞
4. Handful of dried dates
5. If desired, you may also put in a few slices of ginseng

Direction:

Cut the 素雞 in big chunks and put the rest of the ingredients in a pot. High boil for 10 minutes, then turn the flames down to simmer for 15 minutes.

*素雞 usually comes with flavors already. For example, the one I got had lotus seeds, mushrooms, and medlar stuffed inside. Therefore, it's important to cut 素雞 in big chunks so the tofu will not lost the flavor as the soup is boiling. On the other hand, since the 素雞 is already flavored, so there's no need to add any salt unless you feel the taste is too mild.

Cost:

• 素雞 = around $10 'ish depending on what flavor/kind
• Slices of ginger = less than $.50
• Dried medlar = a pack cost about $ 1.50 and will last you forever
• Dried dates = sponsored by Julie Sun. Usually a pack is around $2.00 and will last quite some time
• Ginseng = Optional, but prices varies from $20 to $??? /oz

Servings:

4 ~ 6 people so it's quite economic for a family. =) Enjoy!

Soy Sauce Braised Food 滷味

Alright! Here we go with the much promised lu wei!

1) Materials:

Rock Sugar ($3.99 / 4 = $1)

Soy Sauce

Green Onion ($1.49)

Ginger ($1)

Coca Cola ($2)

Tripe ($5.99)

Chicken Gizzard ($5)

Tofu ($3)

Spicy Red Pepper (Dried)

And mixed herb pack!

(~$20 / food enough for whole week (7 days) =~ $3/day)

Let's get started :)

2) First blanche your meats!

3) While your meat is blanching, cut up the other foods

Chop your green onion and ginger into big pieces, you won't be eat them so don't worry about presentation

4) Take the tofu

And chop it up to edible sizes

5) After the meat blaches, run it under cold water to cool the meat down.

So that the meat would get too stiff from overcooking.

6) Fill your pot with coke, soy sauce, green onion, ginger, herb pack, pepper, rock sugar, some water and other non-meat food you wish to braise.

The proportions depending on how you want the end taste to be. if you want it sweeter, put more cola + rock sugar, if you want spicier put more pepper.

Cook to boil.

7) Make good use of your time by taking out the trash while you wait.

8) After the broth boils, let it continue to boil for 15-20 more minutes.

9) Here's our secret weapon: Thermos Thermal Cooker!

Place the pot into the Thermal cooker, and wait overnight.

For you poor soul who doesn't have the Thermal Cooker, turn the stove down to Medium - Low, and let pot continue to simmer for a couple of hours, and turn off the stove but leave pot on stove overnight when you sleep.

The Thermal Cooker at work... This is where the rest of you would continue to simmer

10) Come back the next morning and find your delishly braised goodies

Tripe :)

Gizzard and Tofu

But wait, there's more!

What are we going to do with our big big pot of braise broth? Such a waste to dump it all...

Fret not, fellow cookers, the secret to any good Chinese braise food is the aged braised broth!

Here's what we do

Boil the braise broth, and let the broth boil down to manageable size

Keep broth and herb pack in sealed container, after cool down, put into freezer for safe keeping!

One thing you will notice after the broth freezes, is that there is a layer of white stuffs on top of the broth. That is simply the grease and fat from the broth, just scrap it off with a spoon and you will have a very clean broth for next time!

Bon appetite :)