Silkie Chicken with American Ginseng,Dried Scallop and Caterpillar Fungus Soup 冬虫夏草

I intended to post an entry a week ago but while I was drafting our electricity went off because of Hurricane Sandy.We're living in dark for 6 days but luckily our home and life has been back to normal now..Our weather at Northeast is super cold now.Drinking herbal silken soup during this cold season give us the feel of warmth and comfort.This time I boiled this herbal soup with some leftover caterpillar fungus for Mishu and me.

Caterpillar Fungi or Cordyceps sinensis, it's also known in Tibetan as yartsa gunbu or yatsa gunbu, and in Chinese as dong chong xia cao 冬虫夏草; literally "winter worm, summer grass"by Chinese consumers.The nutty-tasting fungus is highly valued for its purported medicinal benefits, for instance, as a treatment for cancer and aging and as a libido booster.This fungi is not cheap at all.The prize per ounce can go as high as gold!!. For more information ,read here!!

Ingredients:

1/2 silkie chicken cut into 2 parts,cleaned

20 dried longan

4 oz solomonseal rhizome(yu zhu)

6 large dried scallop

4 oz goji berry or wolfberry or Lycium barbarum(gǒuqǐ)

3-4 pieces Chinese yam(wai san)

4-5 slices American Ginseng or Panax Ginseng(xi yang shen)

8 Cordyceps sinensis(caterpillar fungus)

6 pieces Radix Angelicae Sinensis(dong quai)

5-6 cups water or depend on your double boiler size

salt to taste

Method:

1:Prepare all the herbs in a small bowl,wash few times with until water run clear.Prepare large stock pot with 1/4 water at medium heat.

2:Place clean silkie chicken in the ceramic double boiler together with all the herbs and water,close the top with lid.

3:When water rolling boil,reduce heat to low and simmer the soup for 2 hours.Add in salt to taste.

4: Remove soup and serve warm.