My grandmother, Lily Kwok, met my grandfather, Chan under the most remarkable circumstances. Lily was a maid and cook for an English family in Hong Kong and was walking the baby with a friend when saw the lifeless body of a young boy (who eventually became our grandfather) washed up on the docks. She cried out to her friend and together they raised the alarm to their English family who took him to hospital and resuscitated him. Chan opened his eyes and the lights caused him to squint in pain. As he familiarised himself with the brightness, he saw Lily looking at him – thought she was an angel and that he had died. For days after this incident, my grandmother made chicken stock and painstakingly restored the health of Chan with this soup. She has sworn by this recipe and believes it is almost as powerful as the holy waters.
In many Chinese dishes, we use stock as a base. Throughout this book, references to chicken stock will refer to this recipe.
Makes 2 litres
Prep time 5 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour
8 chicken wings. weighing approx. 800g
1 large onion, chopped into large cubes
5cm piece of fresh ginger
3 litres water
Wash the chicken wings thoroughly. Add the chicken wings, onion and ginger to a saucepan, cover with the water and bring to the boil. Hard boil for 15 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid covering the saucepan. It will reduce down to about 2 litres of stock, which can be used for soups or dishes. If any scum has formed on the top of the stock, skim it off before using. The boiled chicken wings will be extra tender and can be eaten. Extra stock can be poured into an ice cube tray and frozen. Use the iced stock cubes as and when needed.
To book a table at Sweet Mandarin email sweetmandarintables@gmail.com . Our opening times are Tuesday – Sunday 5-10pm.
Sweet Mandarin is a Chinese Restaurant in Manchester which serves delicious Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails. We make our own sweet chilli sauce, bbq sauce, sweet & sour sauce which you can buy from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado, Booths, Wing Yip and Chi Yip. Sweet Mandarin Chinese Restaurant and Cookery Schoolcan cater for the gluten free, dairy free diners. We are a short 15 minute walk from the Manchester Arena. We are not based in Chinatown, but based in the trendy Northern Quarter near the Arndale Centre, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Debenhams and Primark. The nearest hotels to us are the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, Premier Apartments, Blue Rainbow Aparthotels, Light Hotel and Hatters Hostel.