This famous soup from Yunnan province in China has as many variations as household are. I have seen it served with mushrooms, goji berries, bamboo, ham... all the way to expensive ingredients like deer's antler or shark's fin.

It is the first time the one you remember forever. It was a cold night of 2006 in a small eatery somewhere in 昆明 (Kunming). It looked like the only ingredients were ginger and chicken, but the moment I had the first sip... 🤯

The Steam Pot 汽鍋

The steam pot, 汽鍋 (pronunced Qi Guo in mandarin) is an earthenware pot made by mixing clay with purple sandstone.

The bottom of the pot has an open air vent in the center that forms a chimney-like cylinder that extends to the rim of the pot.

When cooking, the steam pot is placed on top of a larger pot filled with boiling water. Steam then enters through the bottom of the pot, passes through the cylinder, flows into the steam pot, and slowly steams the ingredients inside.

The finished dish is extraordinarly clear and flavourful, even for a simple set of ingredients.

The secret is that the steam cooks the ingredients gently and slowly, and since the steam never escapes the steam pot, the original flavours and aromas remain in the dish.

Cooking with the Steam Pot

Cooking with this pot doesn't require any special technique, only a few rules to keep in mind:

You want to seal the two pots together, otherwise the steam will escape from the sides instead of going through the central chimney.
Don't put too much water in the larger pot or it may enter directly in the steampot.
Don't put too little water in the larger pot or it will evaporate fully before the soup is ready. It will be a hassle to open the seal to add more water in the middle of the process.
The cooking time depends on how strong is the boil and how well done is the seal. I recommend a vigorous simmering on medium high fire.

Making the Chicken Soup (汽鍋雞) at Home

Ingredients

Old Chicken for stewing, Half
Gingseng, 8g
Ginger sliced, 40g
Scallions, white part, 10g
Shaoxing wine, 80g
Salt, 1/2 tsp

Notes

Old chicken is better for making soup, more flavourful.
If you dont have shaoxing wine, you can replace it with sherry wine or similar.
You can also skip the ginseng if you can't find it, but I think it gives the soup the proper touch of biterness.

Preparation

Chop the chicken in pieces and rinse well.
Place the chicken pieces inside the steam pot. Add ginseng, ginger and scallions.
Mix the shaoxing wine with the salt and pour over the chicken.
Cover the lid and steam for 2 hours, serve it inmediately. When steaming make sure you seal the seam between the pots. You can use damp kitchen towels. It does the job.

The result

It is said that this soup helps with your ageing process... I don't know about that, but it will definitely make you happier! 😄