Chicken Mushroom and Fish Maw Soup

What do you remember most about your mum's (or dad's) cooking? Besides some of the few favourite dishes that I would never get tired of eating, I remembered always enjoying the different delicious soups my mom boiled. Even till today, when we are back for dinner, she would (with the help of my dad now), boil a big pot of wholesome, heartwarming soup. Truly food for the soul if you ask me. It never fails to make me feel comforted and fortunate to be able to enjoy such homemade goodness from my parents for so many years! 

Often times I tell myself I must do this for my children too. To let them remember me this way. The kind of comfort they won't be able to find elsewhere. And I strongly believe having a bowl of wholesome soup is important during dinner time. For those that follow me on Instagram would know that I ALWAYS boil soup for my family during dinner. Truth be told, I am always looking for good soup recipes that is not too complicated to cook and yet will be well received by the children.

Today I am introducing a wholesome chicken fish maw soup. Perhaps your impression of fish maw soup are those that are served during the ten course dinners. Thick consistency, almost gooey like. But again, I have to admit I enjoyed it every time! They added crab meat, sometimes sharkskin (I doubt it), some stuff that made the soup ultra sweet and flavourful. 

My version perhaps will be on a lighter side (not that gooey thanks), simpler and with ingredients that we can source easily. Ultimately we want something good that we can prep easily for the family even on busy days.

Ingredients for Chicken Mushroom Fish Maw Soup (Serves 4-6 pax)

2 whole chicken leg or 4 chicken drums (I used 3 this time because the ones I used was huge!)

100-150  fish maw (try to get better quality ones, dried and fried) 

4-6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water

15-20 dried baby scallops

5-6 slices fresh ginger (3 slices for 2 different pots)

2 sprigs green onion, cut into segments

1000 ml water

salt, pepper sugar to taste

1 tbsp corn flour + 2 tbsp water (thickening agent)

Method:

• First, cut the stems of the soaked mushrooms. Then cut the mushrooms into half or quarters.

• In a small pot, bring some water to a boil. Add 3 slices of the finer and the green onion segments in. 

• Once it started boiling, add in the dried fish maw in. You can break the fish maw into smaller segments for easier cooking.

• Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes to remove the layer of oil and also the fishy smell if any. Cover the pot and leave it in there till needed.
• Next chop the chicken legs or drums into smaller segments. Then parboil them in a pot of boiling water for 1 couple minutes, drain and set aside for use later.

• Finally, heat up the pot that you will be using to cook the soup. Add in the 1 litre water, ginger slices, soaked mushrooms, baby scallops and the parboiled chicken pieces in.

(This is how the dried baby scallops look like incase you wonder which ones I am referring to. They are great additions to porridge and soup for flavouring and sweetening the mixture up)

• Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the fire to a simmer. Simmer for a good 15 minutes then add in the fish maw in.

(OMG my pot was so full! But it will slowly simmer down to less liquid.)

• Cook the soup at low fire for 40-45 minutes, leaving the pot slightly opened to let the steam escape. It should look like this after awhile.

• The soup has cooked down slightly, all the ingredients has released its essence while the fish maw has soaked up the goodness and soften up. You can now snip the fish maw slightly smaller so that your younger kids can enjoy them properly as well. Season well with salt, pepper and sugar to your liking.
• At this point you can choose to add in the thickening agent to make the soup gesture slightly more smooth. 

• Stir in well. Off the fire and keep warm. Serve the soup when diners are ready to eat! Enjoy!

Wholesome, delicious bowl of soup that I am sure the family will enjoy. 

If you're not a fan of chicken stock, you can also use pork ribs. But you will need at least 6-8 of them to make the soup flavourful. And remember to use baby back ribs.

You can also use more fish maw if you are a big fan of it. But since my kids are still getting "acquainted" to this soup, I shall keep it on the lighter side for now.

Do give this a try and perhaps save some for cooking noodles the next day! Check out my FB later for a video on how I used this left over flavourful soup to cook some simple stir fried noodles. :9

Have a great weekend all!

Happy cooking!