Huai Shan, Goji and Sun-Dried Scallop Chicken Breast Soup (Huai Qi Ri Yue Yu Tang)

Why people make this soup

This is the kind of everyday family soup that covers a lot of ground quietly. Chinese yam and goji berries are among the most familiar and trusted ingredients in Cantonese food-therapy, and combining them with sun-dried scallop — a small, intensely flavoured dried seafood ingredient — gives the broth a natural depth and sweetness that makes it feel more substantial than the ingredients list might suggest. The traditional logic is that this combination nourishes the spleen (improving digestion and absorption), supports the liver and kidneys (which in turn benefits the skin and the eyes), and provides a range of vitamins and antioxidants that are associated with vision health. It is a light soup but a genuinely nourishing one.