Don’t be turned off by this strange ingredient - chicken feet are fantastic for making soup. They have lots of tendons, allowing you to make a smooth broth that contains lots of gelatin without breaking the bank to buy pork or beef tendons. The chicken feet themselves are also edible - they have an interesting texture since they get entirely gelatinized, allowing you to easily eat the good stuff and spit out the bones.

Chicken Feet Soup #

• Prep time: 4 hours
• Cook time: 3 hours

Ingredients (Serves 6) #

• 1 lb chicken feet - this can be bought at any Chinese supermarket
• 2 medium carrots
• dried shiitake mushrooms - aim for a mushroom-to-chicken-foot ratio of 1 to 1; fresh ones also work, in which case you can just wash and use directly without soaking
• 1 cup black eyed peas
• salt

Directions #

1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in water for 4 hours or so.
2. While the mushrooms are soaking, prepare the other ingredients.
3. Rinse the peas. You don’t have to soak them but you can.
4. Peel the carrots and cut them into 1 inch triangular chunks.
5. Wash the chicken feet, cutting off each toenail with a knife. Cut off any dirty spots on the skin with scissors, since they are usually dried and impossible to rub off.
6. When the mushrooms are no longer hard, wash them and cut off the stem of each mushroom cap.
7. Put all the ingredients in the pot and cover with water.
8. When the water boils, stir it a bit, reduce to a simmer and cook for two and a half hours. Add more water and adjust the temperature as necessary to keep the pot full and simmering. Skim off excessive oil that appears at the top of the pot.
9. Add salt to taste and serve.