Soup Name: Worm Grass and Chicken Soup

This soup was created as a tonic to help a family member recover from a recent medical health issue.    In particular, the worm grass, a very expensive ingredient (definitely one of the most expensive we’ve encountered to date), is considered an excellent ingredient to aid in the general recovery of the body.   The various other herbs such as angelica root and codonopsis pilosula root are also widely used in tonics to aid in recovery.

Although this soup does not require very advanced techniques to create it requires a double-boiler and a variety of herbal ingredients, putting this soup at a 4-star level of difficulty.   However, if you have the ingredients and a double-boiler on hand, it is relatively simple to create.

1 whole chicken or chicken feet or pieces
1 codonopsis pilasula root (dang shen)
1 angelica root
10 pieces of worm grass 
5 slices of astragalus root
various dates and/or figs (add to taste as sweeteners)

(if your double-boiler is too small, you may halve the ingredients)

How do I prepare it?

Prepare the chicken.
Thoroughly rinse all dried ingredients in cool water.
Soak the dang shen, angelica root, worm grass, and astragalus root in cool water for 30 minutes
Start boiling water inside a large pot.
Put all ingredients together inside the double-boiler.   The water should completely cover all ingredients.   Put the lid(s) on your double-boiler (some double-boilers come with two lids).
Steam the double-boiler inside the large pot for at least 2 hours (the double-boiler should not touch the water or the bottom of the large pot).  Do not open the double-boiler during the initial 2-hours of the cooking process.

Here is the a photo of our double-boiler inside the larger pot, ready for cooking.

And here is the photo of the soup fully cooked.   As you can see, it has become a clear broth with a deep. rich color.  At this point, all I need to do is remove the excess oil and particles from the surface of the soup, serve, and enjoy!

Any benefits?

• This soup is excellent to aid in the general recovery of the body (i.e. after surgery or illness)
• This is a very neutral soup in terms of heatiness.
• For more benefits, see the benefits of each individual ingredient
• It is ideal extremely ideal as a confinement soup (we’ve drank it during confinement even while breastfeeding)

Any precautions?

• With its high herb content, we do not recommend this soup for children