These herbal prawns are really sweet and aromatic and they leave a very pleasant aftertaste in the mouth. The stock which is also tasty goes very well with steamed white rice. In addition... this herbal dish is a complimentary medicinal food and it boosts vitality. Hope you try it.
Five common Chinese herbs are used here: Yu Zhu 玉竹, Huai Shan 淮山, Dang Shen 党参, Gou Qi 枸杞 and Gan Cao 甘草; it is usually easy to find them as packed herbal soup ingredients 炖汤药材 in supermarkets or Chinese medical halls. Some health benefits of these herbs are briefly given here:
• Yu Zhu 玉竹 strengthens the heart, expels heat, moistens the body, invigorates “Yin” 阴and quenches thirst.
• Huai Shan 淮山 nourishes and strengthens the body, helps digestion and stops diarrhea. It is also used to treat emaciation, thirst and excessive urine caused by diabetes and coughing.
• Dang Shen 党参 benefits “Qi” 气, tonifies blood and lowers blood pressure. It also increases white blood cells and is useful for treating illnesses where there is deficiency in white blood cells; specially suitable for people who have weak lungs.
• Gou Qi 枸杞 lowers the level of blood sugar, nourishes and strengthens the body, improves eyesight and balances blood pressure.
• Gan Cao 甘草 is natural sweetener and is often used as a seasoning. It relieves pain and coughing, strengthens the body, treats convulsive diseases and detoxifies poison. It is also well used in treating abdominal pain, ache in muscles, swelling, sore throat and food poisoning.
For more of the medicinal uses of the herbs above and other traditional Chinese medicine TCM, please refer to this Chinese website: 中医中药网.
You may choose to have live prawns 活虾, grey prawns 螯虾 or red legged ones 红脚虾 for the dish. Live prawns add a unique sweetness to the soup.
The preparations... clean prawns and marinate with a little pepper, raw sugar and five tablespoons of wine. The wine I usually use is Benedictine D•O•M 法国廊酒 or rice wine 米酒, you may use other cooking wine like Shaoxing 绍兴酒 or Huadiao 花雕酒. p.s. I also learn a method for brewing rice wine at home from my late Grandma and will share the recipe here later on… folks who are interested to learn, do stay tuned...
I usually prepare this dish in two ways:
1. Steam prawns with the herbs over high heat for just 15 minutes; or
2. Boil herbs in water for 20 minutes and add in the prawns and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
And that’s it... it’s really so simple!
p.s. I usually prepare another vegetable dish to go with this herbal prawns dish and the meal becomes balanced. Over some occasions when I am a little lazy, all I need to do is to add some noodles and spinach into the soup and I will get herbal prawn noodle soup 药材虾面汤... Try it today too!
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