Food should be treated as medicine and this healthy steam chicken goji berry is exactly that!
This post is all about healthy steamed chicken Goji Berries. This recipe helpS to balance red blood cells and the overall health of the body.
This healthy steamed chicken goji berries recipe is a classical Cantonese dish in helps repair red blood cells and the overall body health. Goji berries play a significant role in body repair and there's a reason why we use them a lot in Chinese medicine!
Benefits of this Steam Chicken With Goji Berries
Goji berry is an ancient berry we use in Chinese medicine and in our food. It’s great for your body because it supports the liver, kidneys, eyes, and lungs. They are sweet, neutral, and nourishing. Not to mention, it is also said to notify the liver and brighten the eyes.
My journey with health and the use of goji berries
I’ve been anemic for some time growing up, and trying to improve my blood count has been a priority. Once a week I would drop 7 dried goji berries into my hot water with some dried red dates. I do not have tests it proves it helped, but I initially did feel better after routinely drinking goji berries.
Growing up at a young age I found food can act as medicine. In the Chinese culture that philosophy is advocated very loudly.
Many Chinese herbs and medicines are strong in taste. However, goji berries are great because the taste is very neutral and great for young children. Today when my kids are sick or when autumn is coming, it feels so instinctively to just add goji berries into their chicken noodle soup.
Some studies have shown using goji berry juice found benefits in calmness, athletic performance, happiness, quality of sleep, and feelings of good health. These are all great benefits for children.
I recently just bought a packet of goji berry seeds from Rare Seeds. They are a great international seed provider, and I was super delighted they send packages to Mexico. I know not every place has access to Chinese medicine or even Chinese ingredients so foraging my own medicinal plant is very exciting for me.
The experience of gathering your own food, medicine, and herbs is a powerful act that connects us deeper to the source of our nourishment. I’ve been continuously learning about the native medicinal plants here in Mexico and I’m super excited to share with you all in the near future what I’ve learned and how it can impact your life.
Why use Goji Berries?
Today goji berries have taken the world by storm. Today there are a lot of goji berry products like tea, bars, beer, cookies, cuttings, drinks, dessert, extract, eye cream, powder, essential oil, face mask, facial cream, smoothie, jam, jelly, muffins, supplement, tablets, and more. In recent years, science has further understood goji berries by analyzing their chemical composition and pharmacology.
As a pre-warning, goji berries are a member of the nightshade family, so if you are sensitive to nightshades, it may be a good idea to avoid or limit your intake of goji berries. My father warned me goji berries are not meant for daily consumption, but in moderation is fine.
Food is Medicine
This Steam Chicken Goji Berries recipe is considered one of my healing meals. When the day before I knew we ate some food that was high in fat or left me feeling a bit gross, I usually make this meal with a bowl of steamed rice.
Children love and my husband enjoys it as well. Surprisingly their favourite part of this meal is the black fungus. It’s a healthy functional, alternative meal for everyone.
Ingredients
Goji Berries
Flavour is mild and slightly sweet when it is dried. Imagine a raisin but not strong in flavour. Gives it a nice chew in the soup when it is being steamed. Chicken and goji berries goes very well together in flavour and Nutrition partnership.
In some other research, goji berries also demonstrated anticancer, antidiabetes, antihypertensive, anti-infertility, anti-myelosuppressive, antioxidant, hypolipidemic, immune-stimulating, and radiosensitizing properties. It is an absolute no-brainer to add goji berries into your diet.
I usually buy my goji berries at the Asian supermarket. Another place you can buy goji berries is on Amazon. Like here: Amazon's Choice Organic Goji Berries.
Chicken
The best and most healthy part of the chicken is the breast. You can use any part of the chicken for this recipe, but if you're looking to extract the most health benefits from this recipe, use the chicken breast. Chicken breast has no fat (as long as you take out the skin) and is a healthy protein. This is the perfect healthy steamed chicken recipe.
If you're interested in using this recipe for a different chicken part, you can. I've used this recipe for only chicken legs, drumsticks, or a mixture of different parts of the chicken. They all come out super delicious!
Professional Tips to make it a no-fail Steam Chicken With Goji Berries recipe
Pro Tip #1 - steam in a pot or Instant Pot
You can steam the chicken in either a steamer you have on your stovetop or in an Instant Pot. For me I like using both ways. If I have the Instant Pot sitting on my counter, I'll be using that.
For Instant Pot, place water inside the pot and place the steamer basket. Place the steamed chicken and goji berries dish on top of the steamer basket and close the lid. Make sure the valve is sealed. Click on the "steam" button and steam for 25 minutes.
Interested in getting an Instant Pot? I have the Instant Pot Duo 7-in-one
Pro Tip #2 - steamed chicken marinate
It doesn't require a lot to marinate the chicken when it is being steamed. We are just tossing the chicken in salt and sesame oil. With only just these two ingredients, it is enough to get some flavourful, and juicy chicken. Besides the whole recipe is about being healthy, so we are keeping it simple.
Pro Tip #3 - discard oil that floats at the top
Once you finish steaming the chicken, you might notice there's a layer of chicken fat on the surface. I remove it with just a sloshed spoon. I carefully place the spoon near the surface and move it around to scoop up the extra fat.
Yes, this chicken oil has umami chicken flavour but it does no justice to our health. I remove this saturated fat for a healthier choice.
Pro Tip #4 - eat it while it is warm
In Chinese, we always say we need to eat everything warm. Not hot or cold - warm. Why? Warm food digests better in our body and if there's any trace of fat in the food, warm food passes our digestion system quicker without it getting stuck in our body. That's another reason why we drink hot tea with our meals. It helps clear out fat in our stomach and digestive system.
Healthy Steam Chicken with Goji Berries
Equipment
- steamer / Instant Pot
Ingredients
Chicken Marinate
- 2 organic chicken breast skinned and cubbed
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp corn starch
The rest
- 1 carrot sliced thinly
- ½ white onion sliced thinly
- 7-10 dried goji berries
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
Instructions
To Marinate the Chicken
- Combine all the ingredients together well, and set aside to marinate on the counter top for 10-15 minutes.
Putting Everything Together
- Sliced the carrots and onions, and add it with the chicken in the vessel you want to steam the dish in. I suggest a bowl that can hold liquid. After steaming, you'll notice the steam water has dropped some in the bowl and makes a delicious sauce on top.
- Add the remaining seasoning: salt and sesame oil. Add the goji berries on top. Mix and combine everything well.
- Using a regular steam:Wait until the steamer is ready and the water is boiling. Put the dish in and the lid on top. Steam on medium heat for 30-35 minutes.
- Using an Instant Pot:Set machine to 'Steam' on high heat for 25 minutes. Place the steamer basket and add the dish in. Make sure you use a round high bowl as the regular flat round plates don't fit. You want to have gaps between the bowls so the steam can come up and easy access for you to lift the plate out when it is done. Put the lid on and set to 'Seal'.
- When the time is up, you can release the vale. Lift the plate up, and drizzle the soy sauce on top. Serve with white rice.
