Papaya Soup with American Ginseng & Black Chicken Recipe | Easy Asian Cooking

Traditional low fat and healthy herbal soup recipe which offers excellent medicinal virtues, is brothed with papaya, black chicken and american ginseng, also a great confinement recipe for breatfeeding mums.

I like to broth traditional Chinese-styled soups especially whenever I feel the body is in need of some replenishment in one area or another.

Papaya Soup with American ginseng and black chicken is said to nourish kidneys, replenish blood, enhance digestion system and strengthen bones and tendons. This traditional low fat and healthy herbal soup is also a great confinement recipe for breastfeeding mums. The selected papaya should not be too ripe (1/3 ripen, with the criteria of papaya's skin slightly greenish-yellow in color).

As for black chicken, beyond being evil-smelling or bitter-tasting, the soup however, is tinged with sweetness from sweet dates and papaya. Black chicken enriched in protein, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A, B1, B2, C, E, and it helps to replenish blood and Qi (boosting), liver and kidneys, expel body heat and regulate menstrual ailments. Traditional Chinese medicine has held that chicken soup made with black chicken meat is a curative food where it is usually used to make broth and braising.

Concocted from American ginseng, sweet almonds and sweet dates, the soup incorporates all the herbal essence in promoting general health. American ginseng is root of a plant similar to Korean ginseng, but it has the Yin properties which helps to clean excessive Yang in the body, whereas sweet almonds (sweet apricot kernels) target the lungs and sweet dates target the stomach and spleen.

After imbibing a bowl of this soup, overall balancing out the yin and yang within seems to be compromised.

(Philosophy of Yin and Yang in the sphere of food : Yang foods are believed to increase the body's heat (raise the metabolism), while Yin foods are believed to decrease the body's heat (lower the metabolism). The ideal belief is to consume both types of food to keep the body in balance).

A healthy chinese tonic soup recipe laid out as below.

Ingredients : 材料

1 whole black chicken (rinsed, chopped)

1 papaya (peeled, diced)

40g sweet almonds (南杏)

20g American ginseng(sliced)(花旗參)

2 sweet dates (蜜枣)

5 bowls water

Seasoning : 调味料

Salt adequate

Method : 做法

1. Scald the black chicken into boiling water. Drain up for use.

将黑鸡沸过水，捞起沥干备用。

2. Bring the water to boil into a boiling pot. Put in all ingredients and bring to boil. Simmer for 2 hours with mild flame.

煲滚清水，倒入全部材料煮沸，再以中火熬约两小时。

3. Season with salt. Stir well and ready to serve.

下盐调味搅匀后即可上桌。

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