Radish, Mushroom and Chicken Soup

Every week, usually a Monday or Tuesday, I attempt to make a Chinese soup. As a cantonese, soups are usually part of my meals when I grew up. It was a side dish. But it isn’t a side dish as its significance. It’s where mothers and grandmothers show their love. See, soups are where nourishment begins. The Cantonese believes that soup heals. From strengthening the spleen, to boasting up immunity, there is a soup for it.

It’s easy to see why. In the paleo world, there is an excitement with bone broth. My grandmother used to tell me that soups are one of the most nourishing part of a meal- you get nutrition from the bones, meat and all sorts of vege goodness in it. We have herb soups too but vegetable based soups are more common.

As I stood at a local grocer recently. I stared at the radishes. Somewhere in my memory filed away, we used to have radish soup. The Cantonese believe that radishes are “cooling” and helps with digestion. At home, I placed radishes, dried mushrooms, dried oysters scallops together with some ribs and slow cooked it for 8 hours.

What hubby said though touches my heart.

“You have managed to capture the love of grandma in this soup.”

And that’s enough for me to continue brewing chinese soups for my family.

White Radish, Mushroom and Chicken Soup

1 Chicken Breast

1 (around 200 grams) of peeled and chopped white radish

1 carrot peeled and cubed

handful- around 10 dried shitake mushrooms dehyrdated with hot water

handful of seedless red dates

2 dried scallops

3 dried oysters

Place all in a slow cooker or thermal cooker. Boil and simmer for 8 hours.