Peanut, black-eyed bean and chicken feet soup (花生眉豆雞腳湯)
A slow-boiled Cantonese soup of peanuts, black-eyed beans and chicken feet with dried tangerine peel — a confinement favourite with a rich, silky broth.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 2 hr 15 min
- Serves
- 6
Method
- 1
Soak the peanuts and black-eyed beans in cold water for 1 to 2 hours, then drain. Soak the tangerine peel for 20 minutes and scrape off the white pith.
- 2
Prepare the chicken feet. Snip off the nails with kitchen scissors and rinse the feet well.
- 3
Blanch the chicken feet and pork: put them in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, boil for 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and rinse.
- 4
Boil the soup. Bring the water to the boil in a large pot, add everything except the salt and boil hard for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 2 hours, until the peanuts and beans are soft.
- 5
Season and serve. Add salt to taste. Serve the soup, with the pork, peanuts and beans on the side to eat with a little soy sauce.
About this dish
In Cantonese families, peanuts with pork trotters or chicken feet are a traditional pairing for breastfeeding mothers. Chicken feet are easy to find frozen in UK Chinese supermarkets, and give the soup a rich, slightly sticky body.
Tips
- Make it with a trotter. Swap the chicken feet for a chopped pork trotter (ask the butcher) for the more traditional 花生豬腳湯.
- Black-eyed beans are sold dried in UK supermarkets as well as Chinese grocers.
- 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.
- Keep whole peanuts away from little ones. The NHS advises not giving whole nuts to children under 5, as they can choke.
- 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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