Herbal Chicken Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 cornish hen (about 1.5-1.75 lbs)
0.7 oz astragalus roots (about 4 slices)
0.7 oz dried Chinese yams (about 6 slices)
0.4 oz angelica sinensis (about 2 slices)
0.3 oz goji berries (1 1/2 tablespoons)
4-8 red dates, seeds removed (depending on their size)
2 1/2 cups fresh young coconut juice (juice from about 2 young coconuts, or substitute with water)
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2-inch piece of ginger
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
scallions, thinly sliced

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Rinse all herbs (astragalus roots, dried Chinese yams, angelica sinensis, goji berries and red dates) under water to remove dirt. Soak in water for 5-10 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Rub cornish hen with a lot of salt and rinse under water to clean it. Or you can parboil it in boiling water for 1-2 minutes.
In a clean pot, add cornish hen, ginger, garlic, coconut juice and water. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam. Reduce heat to a simmer and add all the medicinal herbs and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt (or to taste).
Gently simmer for 60 minutes, or to desired strength of the soup and tenderness of the chicken. If you use a larger chicken, you may need to increase cooking time.
Serve hot and garnish with sliced scallions.

If you cannot find cornish hens, you can also use regular chicken or chicken parts with bones.
The longer you simmer, the darker the soup will be and the medicinal herbal flavors will also be stronger. The soup can be simmered up to 2 hours. You may want to taste the soup throughout the cooking process and stop when you’re happy with the flavors.
You can also tweak the ratio of coconut juice and plain water depending on how sweet and how much coconut flavor you like. I like 1-2 parts of coconut juice to 1 part of water. The soup is still delicious with just water.
You can eat the soup on its own, with rice or with noodles.
This recipe can serve 1-2 people.