Clay Pot Silkie Chicken Wonton Soup 砂鍋雲吞烏雞 is my version of the famous Shanghai dish, Clay Pot Chicken Wonton Soup 砂鍋雲吞雞. Wontons in chicken soup is something frequently nothing really special. During the Qing Dynasty, the health conscious emperors Kangxi and his son Qianlong not only wanted their food to taste good, it had to be nutritious too. Qianlong lived to the age of 87 which is the oldest age of all emperors. One of his favorite foods was wonton in chicken soup. The soup was steamed, not boiled. Once the soup was ready, vegetables and wontons would be added. In Chinese traditional medicine, soup from steaming is much more nutritious than soup from boiling. It uses indirect and low heat to extract and preserve the nutrients.
A book, The Plum in the Golden Vase 金瓶梅, was written during the late Ming Dynasty. It makes many references about various dishes enjoyed by the aristocrats and court officials. You guessed it, the Clay Pot Chicken Wonton Soup is one of those dishes.
Jinhua ham is an important ingredient in the traditional preparation of this dish. It's a dry-cured ham that is quite salty and is mainly for the purpose of adding flavour to braising, steaming and soup. It’s not as readily available as the preserved sausage but I have been able to find some in Vancouver's Chinatown. But I often substitute it with Shanghai salted pork belly or even bacon. They both seem to work well to add flavour to my broths.
In my Clay Pot Silkie Chicken Wonton Soup 砂鍋雲吞烏雞 recipe, I used a silkie chicken instead of a regular chicken for three reasons. I wanted to make a smaller portion, so the one pound silkie chicken was the perfect size. Second, the silkie chicken is good for boosting the immune system as well as improving blood energy. And third, I really like the flavour of the silkie chicken. I find that there’s a nuttiness and sweetness to it. Oh, and it also looks pretty cool!
There’s a number of ways that you can make this dish. You can boil the soup with just the chicken for a few hours and then add the vegetables and wontons. But I wanted to make it easy and I didn’t want to cook the chicken for so long that it starts to taste like cardboard. Consequently, I ended up with this recipe that uses the sweetness of the napa cabbage to enhance the flavour of the soup.
I always insist on using Shanghai wontons for this dish not only because it’s a Shanghai dish. But also, the pork and bok choy in the wonton is mild enough to not take away the subtle flavour of the silkie chicken broth. Chicken and wontons definitely make the perfect comfort food! Conveniently, I also have a delicious Shanghai Style Wontons 上海菜肉雲吞 recipe.
Clay Pot Silkie Chicken Wonton Soup 砂鍋雲吞烏雞
Ingredients
- 1 Silkie chicken
- 1 lb Napa cabbage
- 75 g Salted pork or bacon (you will only need about 30g if using Jinhua ham)
- 2 L Water or chicken stock
- 12 Shanghai wontons
- ½ stalk Green onion garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil and dip the silkie chicken in the boiling water for 10 seconds
- Submerse the chicken into an ice bath for 10 seconds and repeat step 1 and 2 again
This will help the chicken skin stay intact during cooking. It also clears the chicken of impurities - Make a cut on the back of the chicken to make it flat during cooking
This will allow for more flavour to go into the soup and easier to submerse the whole chicken in the soup. You can also cut it into 2 halves or cut it into smaller pieces but it’s traditionally served with a whole chicken and then cut apart tableside. - Add 2 L of water or broth to a clay pot
Although a clay pot is preferred, any pot without a non-stick coating should be fine - Cut the napa cabbage in fairly large pieces but small enough to fit into a bowl and add to the clay pot
I like the napa cabbage being super soft, but if you like yours a bit firmer, you can add half the napa cabbage after 30 minutes - Slice the Jinhua ham, salted pork or bacon into thin slices and add to the clay pot
- Add the silkie chicken to the pot
Don’t worry if the chicken sticks up over the water. After cooking it for 5 minutes, the bones and meat should soften and you’ll be able to stretch the cavity open. - Turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil
- Once the soup boils, turn the heat down to low and cook for 45 minutes
- 15 minutes prior to the soup being done, boil a pot of water to cook the shanghai wontons and cook until done. Remove from water and place them in each serving bowl
- Taste the soup and add salt or soy sauce to suit your taste. The Jinhua ham, salted pork or bacon is already salty so additional salt may not be needed
- Serve soup with wontons.
Leave a Reply