Black Chicken and Black Beans Soup

I learnt about black chicken soup from my grandmother. At that time, two youngest aunts were still single and under the same roof with my grandmother. They taught me that this yummy chicken soup was great for nourish the body and the tasteless chicken meat was actually tender and delicious to eat with bit of soy sauce. I had some great time on my grandma's dining table with her and my aunts. They always tried to feed me and my siblings healthy nutrients whenever we were sent by my mother over while she headed out for some errands or her work.

In the nutrition aspect, black chicken does indeed have less calories than regular chicken, mostly due to less fat. For example, a 100 gram piece of regular chicken has around 8 grams fat, while black chicken has only 2 grams.
Recent evidence also shows a higher level of an antioxidant called carnosine. Antioxidants in general are a great thing, and black chicken has double the amount of carnosine than regular chicken. - source

To me, my grandma boiled the most hearty chicken soup in the universal.

Whilst, my mum taught me about black bean. She usually cook black bean soup with pork rib. According to her, black bean nourish blood, essence and yin. One step before making the soup is, the black beans are to be roasted or pan-fried without oil until the skin of the bean crack.

Over the years, I learnt from somewhere else that both black chicken and black bean are in greater effect by combining both together in a pot with black dates and boil. It helps to replenish blood and vitality. So, here's the simple recipe:

Ingredients

• 1.5L of Water;
• 1 whole black chicken
  [I usually would ask the poultry stall to de-skin and cut it into 4] 
• 100g -150g of black beans
  [wash them and then pan-fried without oil until the skin of the bean crack]
• Some black dates (optional)
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Blanch the chicken in a pot of boiling water.
2. Bring another pot of water to boil. Add in the chicken, black beans and black dates into boiling water.
3. Once the pot is boiling again, lower the heat and simmer for at least 3 hours. 
4. Add salt to taste before serve.

There was one day when I prepared this soup earlier in the morning, before headed out for work. Upon my return in the evening, I brought back a weak body, attached with unknown nasty virus. I could not cook a proper 2 dishes dinner as planned, I improvised by getting mee-suan ready and serving it with this soup. Along with, I asked my daughter to fry egg to everyone except me.

The soup saved me from a disaster.