I woke up this weekend with a little bit of a ‘change of season’ cold. Unfortunately it has resulted in not being able to taste or smell (sadly, I cannot post about any exciting dining ventures today). I did find the energy to make my way over to Whole Foods to buy ingredients to make my Mother’s Chicken Soup, an instant remedy to any illness.
Ingredients:
1 Cornish Game Hen (my mother likes the gaminess of the hen, you can use a quality organic whole chicken too)
½ Cup of Sweet Rice (extra sticky & sweet) – soak in water for at least an hour
3 pieces of fresh ginger (peeled, and cut to the size of a stack of 6 quarters)
6 garlic cloves
Chopped scallions
Course kosher Salt & cracked black pepper (to taste)
Paper Coffee Filters
Drain the sweet rice, and scoop into coffee filters. Tie the filters with twine to make a pouch. You should be able to make 4 sweet rice pouches.
Stuff pouches into the cavity of the cornish game hen.
In a large stock pot, place the hen into the pot with ginger and garlic cloves (if you have it, 1 ginseng root and 3 dried dates). Fill with water until you have enough to cover the bird. Bring the pot to a boil on high. Once it is at a high boil, bring the temperature down to a medium boil. Allow the soup to boil for 40-50 minutes or under the bird is obviously tender. Check in with the stock and skim off any extra fat.
To serve, the bird should be falling off of the bone, portion accordingly into a large bowl with the stock (leave the ginger, garlic, ginseng and dates in the pot), unwrapped pouches of sticky sweet rice, lots of chopped scallions, course kosher salt and cracked black pepper. For some extra love…add some cabbage kimchi.
This sounds amazing and seems pretty easy. Im all about adding those dates. Im promising you and myself that I make this next week! A