Double-Boiled Herbal Chicken Coconut Soup (鸡炖药材椰子汤)

“Simply tasty, healthy and easy.”
“简单美味，健康又容易。”

[With Video Demo Below]

Chicken and Coconut Soup is healthily tasty, and it’s also helping people to recuperate from after exercising due to its high potassium property as well as antioxidant found in the coconut water. Of course, the herbs used in my recipe yields great effect in overall health effect to body immune system, lung nourishing, brain & bone development and liver detoxification. 

Long story short. This soup allows us to enjoy the taste while absorbing full nutrients from it. :)

鸡腿椰子汤健康美味，而且其椰子水的高钾特性以及抗氧化功能，还可以帮助运动后修复肌肉损伤。当然，在我的食谱中使用的草药对人体免疫系统，润肺功效，脑和骨骼发育以及肝脏排毒具有全面的健康作用。

长话短说，这椰汤使我们可以在吸收所有营养的同时享受它的美味。 :)

Written recipe [in both English & Chinese]:
Serves 2
Ingredients 
2 large fresh young coconut (with coconut flesh and water in it)
2 chicken legs, medium size
4 dried oysters, soaked for 15min 
Salt to taste

Seasoning (A) for chicken legs: 
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
Dash of sesame oil 
Dash of black pepper 

Herbs (split into 2 portions each): 
10-12 pcs of Solomon’s Seal Rhizome (Yu Zhu) 
4 slices G. Elata (Tian Ma) 
2 small sticks of ginseng roots
2 slices of licorice (Gan Cao) 
2 red dates 
Handful of wolfberries 

[中英食谱]
供2份
材料:
2大颗 新鲜椰子（含果肉和水)
2个 中鸡腿
4只 蚝干 (蠔豉), 浸泡15分钟
适量 盐 

鸡腿调料（A）
1汤匙 酱清
少许 麻油
少许 黑胡椒粉

药材部分（每个分为2部分）：
10-12片 玉竹
4片 天麻
2根 人参
2片 甘草 
2个 红枣
适量 枸杞

Method: 
(1) Marinate chicken drumstick with seasoning (A) for 15min. Rinse the dried oysters and set aside for later. 

(2) Use a cleaver carefully chop around open the top of the coconut husk. Pour the water from inside the coconut into a bowl, set aside for later. You may use a spoon to scope out the coconut flesh inside, or just leave the flesh intact as it is.

(3) In an emptied coconut shell, put in the herbs, marinated chicken drumstick, 2 dried oysters and salt. Slowly fill in with the coconut water until full. Repeat the step for another coconut shell. 

(4) Place the filled coconuts on a metal mesh plate in a large pot. Fill the pot with 1/3 level of water. Cover the pot, turn on medium-high heat and let coconuts simmer for 1.5hr. Just make sure always have water in the pot throughout the double boiling process. Once ready, serve immediately. *Refer to the photo below

做法：
（1）用调味料（A）将鸡腿腌制15分钟。冲洗浸泡过的蚝豉，然后备用。

（2）用大刀小心切开椰子壳的顶部。将椰子内的水倒入碗中，备用。你可以选择用湯匙把椰子肉刮出來，也可以保留在內。

（3）在倒空的椰子壳中，放入备好的草药，腌制好的鸡腿，2个蚝豉和盐。慢慢加入椰子水直至充满。另一个椰子壳，重复该步骤。

（4）将装满的椰子放在大锅里的网板(蒸板)上。往锅里倒入1/3的水。盖好锅，打开中大火，让椰子慢火煮1.5小时。记得要确保在炖煮的过程中锅中不可干水。炖好后熄火，上桌食用。*看下图示范

If you are thinking why dried oyster? Can I don’t add it? My answer is: Yes and no. Yes, according to my style, cooking is versatile. As long as you like your cooking, do whatever adjustment to the ingredients, condiments and measurements, as desired (I do always have different adaptions of the same old dish!). No, because fried oyster helps to elevate the flavor of the soup! Its saltiness brings up the full flavor as well as balances up the excessive sweetness Of the coconut soup. Most importantly, dried oyster aids in liver detoxification. It also supplemented the absorption of calcium to our bone health. So, why not? :)

为什么蚝干？可以不加吗？我的答案：Yes和No。是的，根据我的做菜风格，烹饪是自由的，多元化的。只要是你喜欢吃的，那就尽情地把配料，调味和份量作调整吧（我也经常把同一款菜式还来改去的！)…. No的话，是因为蚝干有助于提高椰汤的味道呀！它的咸味能带出并平衡椰子汤的甜味。最重要的是，蚝干有助于肝脏排毒。它含有的磷还能帮助我们的骨骼吸收钙质。那么，为什么No呢？ :)

A bowl of chicken coconut soup counts about 300kcal. 一碗鸡炖椰汤约300卡路里。

Tips: If you would like to eat the coconut flesh in the soup easily, choose the step of scooping out the coconut flesh first. Then, return it with the rest of the ingredients to cook altogether. 
* This soup is maximized with the natural sweetness yielded from the coconut water which I truly loved it. If you prefer less sweet but more to the savory taste in the soup, simply replace half of the amount of coconut water with plain water.
* All Chinese herbs are commonly available in most Chinese medical shops and some supermarkets.  

温馨提示：如果想要直接容易的享用汤里的椰肉，就选择先刮出果肉的步骤。然后再将果肉和所有食材放进去一起煮。
* 我非常喜欢这汤里椰水所带出来浓郁的天然甜味。但如果你不太喜欢带甜味的汤，可以选择用清水代替一半的椰水量。
* 需要的药材都可以在附近的中药铺和超市买到。