Grandma home-made recipe - Winter Edition: Mushroom Chicken Soup ：Xiang Gu Ji Tang 香菇雞湯

Taiwanese people love soups, especially chicken soup cooked with chinese herbal for achieving different purpose. There are enormous chicken herbal soup recipes beyond your expectation. Soup to help you get higher during juvenile-to-adult phase transition (we called it "extend bone soup" ), soup for women after menstrual cycle or after having a baby. It creates an unique flavor which I cannot stand, even till now.

I have been a very stubborn person, saying NO to chicken herbal soup since I was a child. I can still remember the scene I got scold by my dad just because I did not even take a sip with a bad attitude ! Such a drama happened almost every month during my high school life. Parent just didn't get it why every family member love it except ME !  

Until now, I still do not like chicken whatsoever herbal soup but this mushroom chicken soup. It is the soup I love to have when winter is approaching. Winter is the time for restoration and nourishing our energy reserves. This soup helps build immune system against cold and also provides full of nutrition you need for coming winter.

This recipe is from my grandma, she minimize the herbal ingredients to only dried red jujube which is acceptable to me. Red jujubes or red dates provide a sweet taste together with onion and chicken essence, and that is why I would like to introduce to you as a beginner to knock the door of chicken herbal soup :) It is also easy to make with rice cooker. Take a try and let me know how you love this Taiwanese mushroom chicken soup!

Ingredients:
6 chicken drumsticks, cleaned and rinsed
6-8 dried mushroom
1/2 onion
1/2 medium ginger, sliced (about 6-8 slices)
6 dried red jujube, rinsed
3 garlic cloves without peeled

Dried red jujubes

Seasonings:
2 tsp rice wine or sake
Salt for taste

Instructions:

1. Soak dried mushroom into water till soft, squeeze out liquid as much as you can. Keep the mushroom water

2. Heat pan with medium heat, add 2 Tsp olive oil, add ginger  and onion to stir fry until aromatic. Add mushroom and stir several times until release fragrance. Add chicken drumsticks and cook couple mins until its skin turn golden brown. Remove from the heat.

3. Use Tatung rice cooker internal pot, pour in all the ingredients from the pan. Add mushroom water and more water until cover all the ingredients. Add red jujubes, garlic cloves and rice wine.

4. Pour in 1 cup of water in the rice cooker, place internal pot with a lid. Cook until its done. Serve warm.

Note:For people have regular rice cooker, use a large pot in step two. Pour in mushroom water and water, cook until a boil. Pour in the soup into rice cooker, add red jujubes, garlic cloves and rice wine. Press the button until its done.