Chrysanthemum Dragon and Phoenix Soup
Chrysanthemum Dragon and Phoenix Soup
A nourishing soup made with three varieties of snake meat and cat meat as primary ingredients, paired with a range of shredded components, traditionally used to help dispel wind-dampness and provide restorative benefits.
Ingredients
Three kinds of snake meat (remove head and tail, skin, remove innards, boil and shred)
200g
Cat meat (boiled and shredded)
150g
Wet fish milt
15g
Shredded chicken
15g
Shredded duck
15g
Shredded dried shiitake mushrooms
15g
Shredded rehydrated wood ear mushrooms
15g
Ginger
As needed
Dried tangerine peel
As needed
Lemon leaves (sanitized first)
As needed
Arrowroot starch
As needed
Chrysanthemum (to line the bottom of the bowl)
As needed
Crispy crackers
As needed
Fine salt
As needed
Cooking wine
As needed
Lard
As needed
Sesame oil
As needed
Original snake broth
As needed
Instructions
1
Preparing the ingredients
Remove the head and tail from the live snake, skin and remove the innards, then wash clean. Place the cleaned snake into a soup pot with water and bring to a boil. Once cooked, remove and shred the meat. Place the cat meat into the same soup pot, boil until cooked, then remove and shred.
2
Braising
Heat another pot over the stove and melt the lard. Add the snake meat, civet meat, scallions, ginger, salt, and wine, and sauté briefly. Once cooked, return everything to the original soup pot and bring to a boil.
3
Thickening into a soup
At the same time, blend sesame oil with arrowroot starch and water, then slowly pour into the pot to form a thin thickening, turning it into a thick soup. Finish with a final drizzle of oil.
4
Plating
Transfer into a bowl (with chrysanthemum petals lining the bottom) and serve while hot. Serve with crispy crackers and lemon leaves on the side.
