Double-Boiled LingZhi Soup

It has being a long time since the last time I made this "Ling Zhi - 灵芝" Soup. We used to have this at least once a month which is recommend by the Chinese physician. You can even make this soup in different version by manipulate with the ingredients as per your preference.

Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) is a woody mushroom highly regarded in traditional medicine and is widely consumed in the belief that it promotes health and longevity, lowers the risk of cancer and heart disease and boosts the immune system. So in the double-boiled version of mine, I used the above ingredients such as Red Dates, Dried Longan, Wolfberries, Honey Dates, Hard-boiled Egg and Ling Zhi Slices.

Red Date (红枣): It is a blood tonic, that can be widely used with other ingredients to nourish the body.

Dried Longan (桂圆肉): It influences the heart and spleen channels. Calms the spirit, nourishes the blood and strengthens the spleen. Commonly used to treat heart palpitations, insomnia, forgetfulness, worrisome tendencies and overwork.

Wolfberries (枸杞子): It strengthens body and bones, supplements kidneys and energy, nurses liver and clarifies eyes. It also cultivates energy and aids yang bodies moistness lungs and stops coughing. Other than use it as a soup ingredient, it can be used as a condiment in frying dishes or used to make tea. Choose Qizi which are full and with bright colour.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
5g Ling Zhi Slices
10g Dried Longan
5g Wolfberries
8 - 10 Big Red Dates
Honey Dates (金丝蜜枣)
2 Hard-boiled Egg, removed shell
800ml Water
1 Knot of Pandan Leave, optional

Method:
1. Place the uncooked eggs in a small saucepan and bring to boil, then simmer for about 5 -7 minutes, remove from pan, rinse and peel off the shell then set aside.
2. Rinse all the herbs ingredients then place them (except the wolfberries) in the pot of boiling water (800ml) and simmer together with the pandan leave for about 3 minutes.
3. Add in the eggs and bring to boil again then transfer the mixture to a ceramic pot.
4. As usual, I always place the ceramic pot into the slow-cooker and cook on Auto for about 2 hours. (you can take a look a the sample HERE)
3. Add in the wolfberries at the very last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Note:
~ You can replace the hard-boiled eggs to a few quail eggs if you prefer a small portion.
~ If you find the taste a bit too bitter for your linking, you can add some rock sugar to sweet it.


Nothing is more heartwarming then a bowl of homemade soup after a long day of work. And during this flu bugs season, it good that you can whip up something simple and yet good for your healthy. You can consume this soup either before bedtime or in the morning and serve it as breakfast. The nature of this soup will taste a bit bitter due to the adding of Ling Zhi so do not overdose it in the ingredients portion. The adding of the hard-boiled egg also add extra protein to this soup.