cn009

This easy-to-make soup is healthful and hearty, and is best served in the early spring when fresh cabbage is at its sweetest and most pungent. Steam this soup as long as possible to soften the cabbage and the meld all flavors. Be sure to eave the bones in the chicken legs to enrich the flavor of the broth. Also, note that this soup is low in calories, so it's a perfect meal if you're on a pre-summer diet.

2 chicken legs, bone in
1/2 small cabbage
1 oz. Chinese ham or bacon
4-inch piece of Japanese naganegi, thinly sliced
A few slivers of ginger skin

[A]
4 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper
5 cups chicken broth

	[1] Fill a wok about 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. Add intact cabbage and, frequently ladling water over it, cook for approximately 3 minutes, or until the outer skin of softens and turns vivid green. Do not throw out the water.

	[2] Remove the cabbage and plunge it briefly into cold water. Pat dry, then cut an X-shape incision into the top. Set aside.

	[3] Return the water to a boil and add the chicken. Boil for about 5 minutes, carefully skimming off any scum that rises.

	[4] Rinse the chicken and place in a large bowl. Cut Chinese ham into bite-size pieces. Add the ham and the cabbage with the X-shape incision facing up to the bowl.

	[5] Crush ginger with the bottom of a cup or bottle. Slice naganegi. Add both to bowl with cabbage. Roughly mix together all ingredients.		Crushing the ginger causes it release more aroma when cooked.

	[6] Heat a steaming basket or steamer. When steamer is hot, add chicken and cabbage mixture, then pour in [A] (make sure the steamer does not exceed 90 percent full). Cover with foil and steam for at least one hour.

	[7] Insert a knife into the incision on top of the cabbage and break it apart. Serve soup in a large bowl or four Chinese soup bowls.