十全大補汤

decided to make 十全大補汤 (a type of herbal soup) for dinner. yummy! superbly fulfilling. been a while since i made any herbal soup for mum. in a way, i wanted to have a variety to the nightly routines of dinners. also, it was to make up for forgetting to make herbal soup for mum 2 weeks back on the 9th lunar day of the 9th lunar month. accordingly, it is believed that all herbs are most potent on that day and that everyone should take herbal soups to nourish their body... anyway, stewed a couple of chicken thighs and drumsticks with the herbs over slow fire for about 2 hours and downed it with a plate of rice, complete with sambal belachan (pound-chilli with preserved shrimp paste)... heavenly! haha... such combinations... so singaporean (and malaysian, i believe).

ingredients

1 packet of 十全大補汤 herbs from the chinese sinseh outlet

1 chicken (or equivalent, i used 2 thighs + 2 full drumsticks)

2 - 2.5 litres of water

salt to taste

method

wash chicken well. remove skin and fats if desired (i did). put all ingredients into a large pot, top it up with water. bring to boil. lower the heat and simmer for 1-1.5 hours (longer if you want the chicken to be softer). add salt to taste. serve hot with white rice. 

you can either eat the chicken with sambal belachan or simply cut chilli with soya sauce.

enjoy!

note: for the sambal belachan, there are various versions at the supermarket, i tend to go for the peranakan-type that is ready mixed with lime. 

picture from http://blog1.poco.cn/myBlogDetail-htx-id-5436671-userid-56172554-pri--n-0.xhtml