Chicken With Black Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

• 10 Chinese dried black mushrooms
• Water to soak mushrooms
• 1 whole chicken, preferably with feet, weighing 4 to 4 1/2 pounds
• 6 cups boiling water
• ¼ cup rice wine or sake
• 4 slices fresh ginger, smashed lightly with a flat edge of a knife
• 1 teaspoon salt

6 servings

Preparation

1. In a bowl, cover mushrooms with water and soak for 20 minutes.
2. Using a heavy knife, cut the chicken through the bones into 12 to 14 serving-size pieces. Place the chicken in a pot with water to cover.
3. Heat until boiling, and cook for 2 minutes. Drain into a colander and run under cold water.
4. Remove mushrooms from water, discard stems, and cut large caps into halves.
5. Combine the chicken, mushrooms, boiling water, rice wine, ginger and salt in a heavy pot that will fit inside a bigger pot.
6. Put several inches of water in the bigger pot, and boil. In the bottom of the bigger pot, place a rack, and put the pot holding the chicken on it.
7. Cover both the pot with the soup and the bigger pot and cook over medium heat for one and a half hours. Replenish the bigger pot with more boiling water as it runs low.
8. When the soup is cooked, skim the fat, remove ginger, and add salt to taste.

• Chinese herbalists recommend this soup to aid digestion.