Wolfberry Leaf with Egg Drop in Chicken Broth

Soup Name: Wolfberry Leaf with Egg Drop in Chicken Broth

Traditional Chinese Name: 枸杞雞湯 (gǒu gǒu jī tāng)

Introduction:

A delicious soup that is rich in the unique flavors of the wolfberry leaves. The very neat thing about this soup is that the base is an old fire soup, while when adding the final ingredients, it’s a quick boil soup. This is a classic from my mother and she even grew her own wolfberry plants just for the sole purpose of making this soup!

Ingredients:

1 fresh whole chicken, prepared

1 pound of fresh pork shank

4 fresh sea snails, prepared

5-6 dried scallops (conpoys)

10 dried longans

3 stems of wolfberry leaves, washed and picked off stems

3 eggs, scrambled

2-3 L of water

How do I prepare it

1. Prepare snail by thoroughly cleaning and rubbing it in warm water


2. In a pot of hot water, blanch chicken, pork shank and snail


3. Begin to boil your soup water and add conpoys and longans


4. When water boils, add both blanched chicken and pork shank (this is the base of your soup)


5. Boil on high for 30 minutes and then reduce to a simmer for another 1 hour


6. Wash wolfberry leaves and set aside


7. When ready to serve, add wolfberry leaves and boil for 5 minutes on high heat (or until leaves are soft)


8. Slowly pour in scrambled eggs while continuously mixing the soup, boil for another 5 minutes


9. Serve and enjoy!
   
   

Any benefits?

• Has an effect to remove heatiness


• It aids in reducing thirst and has a calming effect on the body (thereby eliminating anxiety)


• Extremely high carotene content


• Excellent source of Vitamin E

Any precautions?

• Some species of wolfberries and leaves are known to contain a toxic ingredient called Atropine (naturally occurring)


• Not many concrete studies are available on the benefits of wolfberries and their leaves


• Said to be slightly cooling, so precaution to be taken with women who are pregnant in their first trimester (as cooling ingredients cause contractions)


• Snails need thorough cleaning (see preparation for more details)