Confinement recipes
Home-style Cantonese dishes traditionally cooked for new mothers — soups, mains, drinks and sweets — with practical notes on food safety, alcohol and breastfeeding.
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.
Double-boiled chicken soup with fish maw (花膠燉雞湯)
A treasured confinement soup: fish maw and chicken double-boiled for hours in a sealed pot, giving a clear, rich and silky broth.
Lotus root and pork rib soup (蓮藕豬骨湯)
A classic Cantonese slow-boiled soup: lotus root simmered with pork ribs, red dates and dried tangerine peel until soft, starchy and faintly pink.
Papaya and fish soup (木瓜魚湯)
A milky-white soup of pan-fried fish and ripe papaya — traditionally made for breastfeeding mothers, and easy to make with fish from a Chinese supermarket.
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.
Chicken soup with red dates and goji berries (紅棗杞子雞湯)
A simple, gently sweet chicken soup with red dates, goji berries and ginger — an everyday confinement soup that needs no special herbs.
Sweetcorn and carrot soup with pork (粟米紅蘿蔔豬骨湯)
The everyday Cantonese family soup: sweetcorn, carrots and pork simmered into a light, naturally sweet broth that everyone in the house will drink.
Traditional home recipes, shared for cultural interest — not medical or nutritional advice. Check with your midwife, health visitor or GP about allergies, special diets or medicines.