“Meat, root vegetables, cereal grains and (lotus) seeds make this soup dish a perfectly hearty & healthy one dish meal.”
This weeknight wonder is packed with plenty of minerals, protein, vitamin-rich and well balancing ingredients. Perfect comforting soup dish for a busy week night.
A small handful of tiny dried scallops was added to intensify the flavor of this soup, while barley (cereal grain) and lotus seeds in the soup create familar texture and refreshing flavor to the taste bud. These elements added not just the cooling effect to the body system, also brighten its flavour.
Of course, cut the sweet corn and carrots into small chunks to yield heartier texture and colourful appearance.
Anyway, such good combination imparts a hearty flavour to this rich and refreshing soup.
Ingredients
4 small or 2 large chicken drumsticks, skinned and blanched
1 ear fresh sweet corn, husked and divided into 4 pieces
1 carrot, cut into smaller pieces, lengthwise
10 tiny dried scallops, rinsed and soaked for 5 minutes
30 grams of pearl barley, rinsed
60 grams of lotus seeds
1 teaspoon of salt
1200ml of water
1 separate pot of water (to blanch chicken)
Method
1) Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add salt and chicken drumsticks to blanch for a minute or until scum suffices on the surface of simmering water. Remove and drain.
2) Add water into croak pot. Then, add in blanched drumsticks and all other ingredients. Place croak pot into slow cooker, and shift to auto or slow mode. Cover slow cooker with lid and simmer for hours. Add salt to taste when about time to serve as dinner.
If cook this soup on stove, simply bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add all ingredients into the boiling water and bring it to a boil again. Then, reduce heat to low fire to simmer for at least 2 hours. Add salt to taste.
A serving of my hearty and healthy soup counts about 120kcal.
Tips: If you have time to spare an extra step, instead of adding the barley together with other ingredients at the beginning, add barley only at final simmering stage, about 10 minutes before heat off. This helps to reserve better cooling effect of the barley.
* Get the vacumm packed cooked lotus seeds for the soup. If use the dried harden ones, steep in water for an hour or more before use. Pre-cooked lotus seeds can be found in chilled compartment in major supermarkets. It costs about S$1.20 per packet.