NOM NOM on a budget

CHICKEN SOUP

there are probably as many ways to make chicken soup as there are chinese families in the bay area. here’s mine that i’ll be imposing on my children.

ingredients involved: chicken (i use drumsticks), mushrooms (pictured are dried mushrooms, you can use fresh shitake as well), goji berries or wolfberries, green onion, carrots, one dried scallop.

parboil chicken by heating up a small pot of water and boiling the chicken for 1-2 minutes. this gets rid of the nasty dirty stuff on the exterior of the meat. remove chicken and dispose of water.

heat up another pot of water (enough to just cover all ingredients). in the meanwhile, peel and chop carrots, green onions. soak dried mushrooms in sugar water (this helps them inflate faster) and chop. once water is boiling, throw everything in, largest to smallest. bring to boil.

cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 1-2 hours or until flavors are released. season with salt/pepper, garnish with green onion, and serve.