Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤)

Lately, easy to cook herbal soup is in fad and A1 is one of the first food manufacturer to jump into the bandwagon with Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤) and Ten Whole Nourishing Soup (十全大补汤). Chinese herbs are grind to fine powder and put in filtered bag for easy cooking. So you no need to mess with the herbs quantity directly and after cooking you can easily remove it from the soup.

Today, I cook easy Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤) to try haha. Those who verse in herbal soup will laugh their head off why a guy need Eight Treasure Soup as this soup is primarily for female to rejuvenate after their (big aunty come) also known PMS. On the contrary to such belief, this soup is suitable for all sexes, especially if you are anemic, or suffering from faint spell and poor appetite.

Eight Treasure Soup (八珍汤）

• 3 to 4 pieces of Chicken Thigh
• 1 Sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup ( Sold in Giant Megamart)
• 1 Cup of Baby Carrot or Chopped Carrot
• 2 Teaspoon of Salt & Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon of Cooking Wine
• Dash of Pepper
• Microwave Glade Wrap (Optional)
  

The rule of thumb for "brewing" Chinese Soup, the meat used to brew the soup need to rinse through hot water to remove any traces of bloods or rawness that might affect the soup. I personally find this procedure reduce the soup flavour so I devise a procedure to overcome it. Soak or rinse the chicken thigh in water to get rid of the excess blood. Drain the chicken thigh dry, then add in 2 teaspoon of salt & pepper and 1 teaspoon of cooking wine and massage the chicken thigh thoroughly. Keep it marinate overnight. I enclosed 2 variants of making Eight Treasure Soup depends on individual liking.

Consomme Version:
Soak a sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup in water and put it at the base of the bowl. Cover it with 1 cup of carrot or baby carrots then add in the pre-marinate chicken thigh. Seal the bowl with Microwave Glade wrap and put in the steamer and steam it for 2 to 3 hours. Slowly, you will see strong consomme soup will form in the bowl.

Normal Version:
Soak a sachet of A1 Eight Treasure Soup in water and put it at the base of the bowl. Cover it with 1 cup of carrot or baby carrots then add in the pre-marinate chicken thigh. Put the bowl in a steamer and steam it for 2 to 3 hours. As the steam is condense directly into the bowl, the soup will not be as concentrate as the consomme version.