Chicken Soup with Ginger and Shiitake Mushrooms

Chicken soup doesn’t need to take hours to make. This is a simple, light chicken soup that is richly flavored with shiitake mushrooms, and brightened with fresh ginger and soy sauce.

The stock is very light, and comes just from the cooking of the ingredients for less than half an hour. But the combination of the ginger, chicken, mushrooms, soy sauce and a touch of salt and sugar is just lovely, and I highly recommend trying this soup.

The recipe is an adaptation of one I discovered in a most curious cookbook, The Cultural Revolution Cookbook by Sasha Gong and Scott Seligman.

One doesn’t usually think of this rather painful period of Chinese history, when millions of Chinese urban youth, children of “intellectuals,” were forced into the countryside to work as farmers, for its culinary legacy. But during this period, people learned to make do, and to create nourishing, satisfying food from simple, local ingredients.

The original recipe, upon which this one is based, is for “Steamed Ginger and Mushroom Chicken”. The recipe required a bamboo steamer and wok, neither of which we had, so we decided to make our own version. Same ingredients, somewhat different method.

After the heaviness of holiday food, this one is especially refreshing. Enjoy!

Chicken Soup with Ginger and Shiitake Mushrooms Recipe

Typically for this recipe one would use bone-in chicken thighs hacked into big pieces with a cleaver, or with poultry shears. The bones help create flavor and richness for the stock. You can use boneless chicken thighs if you prefer. Or use bone-in, and then remove the bones after the chicken has cooked, before serving.

Ingredients

• 1 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms (dried is much preferable to fresh in this recipe)
• 3 cups boiling water
• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, preferably bone-in, cut into chunks
• A 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced very thin
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce for gluten-free version)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

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