Healthy Cactus Soup with Chicken (仙人掌煲鸡汤)

“Cactus soup. Sounds weird as food? Not true, it’s surprising great as food, especially to be cooked in soup, trust me.”

Came across many savory dishes on Aloe Vera and loved it. When come to Cactus, it gave an impression of an over-whelming greenish taste, but it is not true! After reading some write-ups on the benefits of taking cactus, I decided to give it s try. And guess what, it is really great to have in the soup!

Not sure since when, many articles claimed that cactus has become a popular dish in many occasions since it is easy to cook. Its stem can be eaten chilled with some additions of salad dressing. It can be fried or stewed, besides cooking in the soup. But, today, I am going to focus just on soup cooking because the soup tastes a real good!

As for the taste of the Cactus, if you are going to eat it as well, no worries, it taste pretty bland and the texture resembles cooked cucumber. It’s crunchy to chew.

And so, what does it help?

[Ingredients Value] Benefits of eating Cactus:
I read the articles claiming that cactus helps to promote good digestive system, improve immunity, strengthen bones and joints, invigorate blood circulation, detoxification of the body system, and etc. Some even claimed that eating cactus helps to improve in obesity due to its rich supply of Amino acids that balances up the body system, and hence, increases metabolism. And don’t forget, it’s low fat green food, too.

But, remember, only the spikeless edible cactus from the market can be consumed. :)

1 large pad of edible Cactus weights about 400gram, scrubbed, washed and cut into squares with skin remained intact
1/2 chicken, trimmed fat, skinned and chopped into chunks or whole half
2 pieces of Honey dates (蜜枣)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 pot of water, half filled (about 1200 ml)

Method

• On stove:

Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Place in all ingredients and bring it to a boil again. Then, reduce heat to low fire and simmer for at least 2 hours, with lid on. Add in salt and stir well. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes before heat off. Serve hot together.

• Use of slow cooker:

Place all ingredients in a croak pot. Then, place croak pot into slow cooker, cover with lid and cook for at least 4 hours on auto or low shift mode. Add in salt and gently stir to combine. Let the soup cook for another 20 minutes before serve.

A regular bowl of soup counts about 60kcal. Since, this is a soup with both the protein and greens in it, cook this as your easy one-dish-meal… Eating with one portion of chicken and cactus in the soup, it counts merely 120kcal.

Tips: The edible cactus is nice to eat. Simply peel off the thick skin using a peeler or small knife. Place cactus flesh in a bowl. Gently scour with salt and leave for 5 minutes before rinse off and add into cooking (Skin is not edible).
* For the real diet-watcher, use skinless chicken breast meat to cook the soup.