China · Home-style
Chicken Soup with Yam and Pumpkin
A mild, golden soup of chicken, chestnut, yam and pumpkin, sweet from the pumpkin and thickened by nothing but the yam.
Pumpkin is stirred in as a puree near the end rather than simmered from the start, because it would otherwise fall apart and muddy the broth. Yam is the ingredient that does the work of thickening without any starch at all, and chestnut gives the soup its rounded sweetness. Nothing here is hot or sharp, which is why the combination turns up so often when a family member is recovering.
Ingredients
- chicken500 g
- chestnuts150 g
- yam200 g
- small pumpkin300 g
- red dates8 pieces
- ginger5 pieces
- Shaoxing wine10 ml
- salt5 g
Directions
- 1
Cut the chicken into pieces, add ginger and Shaoxing wine, put it into cold water to blanch, and once it boils cook for three minutes and lift the chicken out.
- 2
Peel the yam and cut it into rolling chunks; shell the chestnuts and set aside.
- 3
Wash the small pumpkin, steam it until cooked, scoop out the flesh and mash it to a puree.
- 4
Put the blanched chicken, the yam, the chestnuts and the ginger slices in the pot, add water to cover, bring to the boil over high heat and then stew gently for thirty minutes.
- 5
Stir in the pumpkin puree, add the red dates and cook for another ten minutes.
- 6
Season with salt and serve.
Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.