Purple Yam, Fresh Lily Bulb and Red Date Black Chicken Soup (Zi Huai Shan Bai He Wu Ji Tang)

Why people make this soup

Purple yam is not the easiest ingredient to source, but it is well worth seeking out at specialty Asian grocers or organic food stores. It looks like an ordinary Chinese yam on the outside but reveals a striking purple flesh inside, packed with anthocyanins that give it antioxidant properties beyond what the common white-fleshed variety offers. Traditional food therapy calls it “purple ginseng” (zi ren shen), a nickname that reflects how highly it is regarded for overall wellness support.

Combined with fresh lily bulb — which is moistening, calming, and lung-supportive — and the deeply nourishing silkie chicken (a breed with dark skin and bones, prized in Chinese cooking for its gentle tonic properties), this is a soup that manages to be both genuinely beautiful to serve and meaningfully nourishing to drink.