Dr Christine Cui 2023-Aug-25

Sea cucumber is not a vegetable as the name suggests, it is a tube-shaped sea creature that has been used in Chinese cuisine for centuries. Sea cucumbers provide nutritious protein and some studies show that they also contain amino acids that are essential for synthesising protein in muscle and promoting the formation of androgen hormones like testosterone. This hormone plays a crucial role in regulating male fertility and reproductive organs. Moreover, sea cucumber is packed with minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants that bring a lot of health benefits in general. It may reduce cholesterol and blood pressure which potentially reduces the risk of heart disease and helps to improve liver and kidney function.

So here is one of the recipes you can try at home

Ingredients:

• ¼ chicken
• 6 sea cucumbers
• 6-8 cloves Garlic
• 5-6 slices of garlic (2 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups water

How to cook

• If you use the dried sea cucumber, you must clean and soak them first. Soak the sea cucumbers in water for a day. Using a knife split them (length-wise) and scrape out the guts and the surface. Then, put the sea cucumbers into a container and fill it with water. Rinse them and change the water every day for 10 days.
• Once you’re ready to make the soup, rinse the cucumber one more time, cut them, lengthwise, and then quarter them.
• Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and add chicken bones to the soup.
• Peel the ginger and cut it into small pieces then peel the garlic and leave them in large pieces.
• Put 3 cups of water into a pot, once it starts to boil put the chicken, ginger and garlic then cover it with the lid and cook it in medium heat for 30 minutes. (The cooking time for sea cucumber can vary depending on the cut, in this recipe these small sea cucumbers will take 20-30 minutes, and more significant cuts will take longer to cook)