Three essential ingredients for stewed chicken
Core tip: Shiitake mushrooms, Astragalus root, and Codonopsis root. When these three polysaccharides are combined and stewed with nourishing chicken, eating it once a week can boost your immune system.
My older sister from my hometown came for dinner. According to our custom, you must serve chicken to a guest. The most respectful way to prepare this meat dish is to buy a whole chicken to stew, rather than stir-frying half a pound, as that would seem stingy and meager. I hadn't had chicken in a long time, so I went to the supermarket and bought a yellow-feathered chicken, planning to stew it in a clay pot. While cleaning the chicken, my sister told me: "Xiong Miao, I know you're a nutritionist and very focused on wellness. My method is just a little tip for you, I don't know if it's right, but every time I stew chicken, I add Codonopsis root, shiitake mushrooms, and Astragalus root. My mother-in-law taught me this; her family deals in medicinal herbs." After hearing my sister's words, I thought it made perfect sense. So today, let's make this nourishing chicken soup.
Nourishing Chicken Soup
Ingredients: 1 hen, 25g Codonopsis root, 50g dried shiitake mushrooms, 15g Astragalus root
Seasonings: Scallion, ginger, 5 slices of dried hawthorn, salt
Stewed chicken is a nourishing food in itself, and Astragalus root and Codonopsis root are also well-known tonic herbs for ordinary people. Most people may not be aware of the tonic effects of shiitake mushrooms, but in fact, it was recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Shiitake mushrooms are neutral in nature, sweet in taste, and can replenish Qi and relieve hunger."
Shiitake mushrooms contain a component called lentinan, which can boost the immune system. It can not only be used to treat recurrent infections but can also be used as an adjunctive treatment for tumors such as cervical cancer, malignant pleural effusion, stomach cancer, and lung cancer.
In addition, the active ingredients in these well-known tonic herbs like Astragalus root and Codonopsis root, as well as more famous ones like ginseng and lingzhi, are also polysaccharides, namely Astragalus polysaccharide, Codonopsis polysaccharide, etc. These polysaccharides can promote the body's immune function, enhance the activity of immune cells such as the reticuloendothelial system, macrophages, natural killer cells, and cytotoxic T cells, promote the generation of antibodies and complements, and induce the production of interferon. Therefore, shiitake mushrooms, Astragalus root, and Codonopsis root—when these three polysaccharides are combined and stewed with the nourishing chicken, eating it once a week can boost your immune system.