Wong Bok Mushroom Chicken Soup

I'm not Cantonese, but I love soup. In order for soup to be flavorful, you need sufficient ingredients and that's gonna burnt your pocket especially meat are so expensive in Singapore. 

Today I crave for something light hence decided to make vegetable chicken soup. 

Ingredients & Cost 

1 chicken breast with bone - S$3.20 

1/2 of a whole Wong Bok - S1.40

2 Carrot - S$0.40 (Fair price sells a bagful at $0.90)

5 Dried Chinese Mushroom (Usually buy in bulk) 

Water 

Salt to taste 

Total cost less than S$6 for a pot of 4-5 servings. 

Steps 

1. Soak dried mushroom in hot water. 

2. Blanch chicken in boiling water for a few mins. Remove and rinse with tap water. 

2. Peel, wash and cut the carrots. Soak, wash and cut Wong Bok. Separate the leaf and white part. 

3. In a soup pot (I'm using a 2.5L toughen claypot), put in chicken; soaked mushroom; carrot and white part of Wong Bok. Add in water just enough to cover. 

4. Bring to boil on high heat and continue to simmer on low medium heat for at least 1.5hours (I love to simm for hours so that all the flavors are released to the soup). 

Add in the leafy parts of Wong Bok and continue to simmer for another few minutes. My husband love soggy Wong Bok so I let it boil on low heat for quite some time. 

Salt to taste and it's ready to serve! 

PS: If you are like my family who doesn't like the meat in soup, you can replace with 2-3 chicken bones (abt S$1 each) instead. It will certainly affect the taste by a little cos the breast meat does release sweetness to the soup. 

Else you can shred/ chop the breast meat and make chicken mayo that can be use for salad or sandwich. 

My Personal Saving Tips: 

Most of the time, dried mushroom used in soup is just to bring out flavors. My family doesn't eat the dried ingredients used in soup, so I usually choose the cheaper range of mushrooms, broken dried scallops & etc that's only meant for boiling soup. 

I shop my dried seafood and goods from Albert Centre Market 3rd Floor. You can choose from different price range sand usually cheaper when you buy in bulk as sometimes they do give extra discount when you buy a lot.. ;)