Recipe of Seared Mushrooms and Chicken Broth

A hearty broth made using chicken and an assortment of mushrooms – button, shiitake, shimeji, enoki, chanterelle, and simmered for over 6 hours. Patience is the key here!

Ingredients

• 1kg chicken bones, cleaned and chopped
• 300gm fresh mushrooms, assorted (button, shiitake, shimeji, enoki, chanterelle)
• 1 large onion, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp palm sugar
• ½ cup dark rice wine
• 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp smoked sesame oil

How to Make Seared Mushrooms and Chicken Broth

1. Heat a large heavy pan, add a few drops of oil and add the chopped bones.
2. Stir gently to get rid of the moisture and gradually brown the bones to a soft amber colour.
3. Diced carrots, onion and celery may also be added to the pan for other broths – but for this particular soup it is not suggested.
4. Add water to cover the bones and gradually bring the pan to a very slow simmer.
5. Impurities from the bones – blood, tissues etc. will coagulate and begin to rise to the surface as scum. It is very important to skim this as it collects on the surface.
6. Allow the broth or stock to simmer, un-covered, for 5 to 6 hours. Replenish water to keep the bones submerged.
7. Slice the hardier mushrooms – the button and shiitake, clean the delicate ones but leave them whole.
8. Once the chicken broth is ready, skim the surface for any scum one final time and then pour the clear broth into a pan through several layers of well washed muslin or cheese cloth. Reserve warm. The stock could be chilled and refrigerated, even frozen and used over weeks.
9. Heat another heavy pan, add a few drops of oil, sliced garlic and the julienne of ginger, and sauté for a few seconds. Add the sliced mushroom and immediately increase the heat. Stir rapidly over high heat to sear the mushrooms to a nutty golden brown.
10. Add a dash of the dark rice wine and then a few drops of the vinegar.
11. Pour the chicken stock into the pan with mushrooms and bring it to a simmer.
12. Season with palm sugar, salt and pepper.
13. Add the shimeji and simmer for a few minutes.
14. Serve in heated soup bowls, distribute mushrooms evenly and sprinkle the enoki and a few drops of sesame oil over each bowl.