Black bean and silkie chicken soup (黑豆烏雞湯)
A dark, gently sweet soup of black-skinned silkie chicken, toasted black beans and red dates — a traditional favourite for new mothers.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 2 hr 30 min
- Serves
- 4
Method
- 1
Defrost the chicken in the fridge — allow about a day for a whole bird. Remove the skin and fat if you like a lighter soup, and chop it into pieces.
- 2
Toast the black beans. Rinse and drain them, then dry-fry in a clean wok with no oil over a medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until the skins split. This takes away the raw, beany taste.
- 3
Blanch the chicken. Put it in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, boil for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse.
- 4
Boil. Bring the water to the boil in a large pot. Add the chicken, black beans, red dates, ginger and tangerine peel and boil hard for 15 minutes.
- 5
Simmer. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 2 hours, until the beans are soft. Add the goji berries for the last 10 minutes.
- 6
Season and serve. Skim off any fat and add salt to taste.
About this dish
Silkie chicken (烏雞) has white feathers but black skin and bones, and turns the soup a deep, dusky colour — that's normal. It has less meat than an ordinary chicken, but makes a rich, sweet broth.
Tips
- Defrost safely. Thaw frozen chicken in the fridge, not on the worktop, and cook it within 24 hours of it fully defrosting.
- Using a slow cooker? Boil the soup hard on the hob for 15 minutes first: beans that aren't cooked properly can upset your stomach.
- Don't skip toasting the beans — untoasted black beans give the soup a raw, grassy taste.
- Leftovers: divide into smaller containers so they cool quickly, get them into the fridge within 1 to 2 hours, eat within 48 hours, and reheat once, until steaming hot.
Sources
About these recipes
- These are traditional home recipes, shared for cultural interest. They are not medical or nutritional advice, and we don’t claim any dish treats, prevents or cures anything.
- If you have allergies, gestational diabetes or a special diet, or take any medicines or herbal remedies, check with your midwife, health visitor, GP or pharmacist before changing what you eat.
- Follow UK food-safety advice: cook meat, fish and eggs thoroughly; cool leftovers and get them into the fridge within 1 to 2 hours; eat them within 2 days; and reheat only once, until steaming hot.
- Some recipes contain alcohol, and cooking doesn’t remove all of it. If you’re breastfeeding, read our guide to ginger vinegar and chicken in rice wine first.
Experienced carers cook dishes like these every day of the confinement month, and adjust them to how you’re feeling.
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