Snake Soup

Name: Snake Soup
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 5 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 100 g snake meat; 60 g boneless chicken thigh; 30 g pork loin; 2 dried shiitake mushrooms; 3 g dried wood ear fungus; 15 g fresh ginger; 1 piece dried tangerine peel; 300 ml chicken stock; 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine; 1.5 tbsp tapioca starch; 2 tbsp cold water; 0.25 tsp ground white pepper; 0.5 tsp salt; 1 tsp sesame oil; 1 tbsp edible chrysanthemum petals; 2 kaffir lime leaves; 10 g fried wonton crisps

The classic Cantonese winter thick soup: shredded snake meat simmered with chicken, pork, mushrooms and wood ear in a ginger-and-tangerine-peel broth, thickened to a silky gravy and finished at the table with chrysanthemum petals, needle-fine lemon leaves and crisp fried wonton skins.

Snacks Lunch & dinner 25g+ protein Under 20g carbs

95 min30 prep · 65 cookMedium404 kcalper serving

Method

Cover 2 dried shiitake and 3 g dried wood ear with warm water and leave to soak 30 minutes until fully soft. Separately soak 1 piece dried tangerine peel in warm water for 15 minutes, then scrape the bitter white pith off the inside with a spoon. Squeeze the mushrooms dry, discard the stems and cut caps and fungus into the thinnest possible shreds — everything in this soup must be the same fine julienne.
Put 100 g cleaned snake meat into a small clay pot or saucepan with 300 ml chicken stock, 15 g sliced ginger, the softened tangerine peel and 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine. Bring to the boil, skim off the grey foam, then cover and simmer very gently for 40 minutes, until the meat slips easily from the bones.
Slide 60 g chicken thigh and 30 g pork loin into the same broth and poach at a bare tremble for 12 minutes, until just firm. Lift out all the meats and leave until cool enough to handle, then bone the snake and tear the snake, chicken and pork with your fingers into long fine shreds along the grain. Strain the broth through a fine sieve and discard the ginger and peel.