Bird's Nest Soup

I had always thought we needed about 2 to 3 hours to cook bird's nest soup. This seemed to be confirmed from what I had seen from some blogs and websites. Some bird's nest even required cleaning/plucking of feathers, which was time consuming and tedious. 

Recently, I saw from Hock Hua Tonic E-Store that they were having a promotion on some of their bird's nest. Some of the instructions there stated that the bird's nest only needed to be soaked for 1 hour and then cooked for 45 minutes to 1 hours. 

Bird's nest was usually sold by weight. Since it was my first time trying to cook bird's nest, I chose the cheapest bird's nest available at that time as there was not much difference in terms of efficacy. I bought the 特选沙巴洞燕片 Super FS SABAH BCN-White (AA) at a Hock Hua Tonic retail store, which was sold at a special price of $50.00 for every 37.5 g (一两).  I bought about 42 grams, which cost $56. I also further confirmed with the staff on how to prepare the bird's nest. The staff advised me to soak the bird's nest for 1 hour, remove the water that was used to soak the bird's nest and double boil for 45 minutes. 

Their staff usually tell us to cook 1 to 2 piece of bird's nest for 1 person's consumption. This seemed to be a lot in my opinion and would be very thick in consistency. Maybe some people loved to eat bird's nest this way. 

I had previously researched on the optimal quantity of bird's nest to consume every day and found that it should be between 1 to 5 g. Below 1 g, it is ineffective. If we consume more than 5 g, the human body cannot absorb that much and, hence, it would be wasted. I bought six pieces, which weighed 42 g, so one piece was about 7 g. There are four of us in our family, so 7 g divided by 4 persons would be about 1.75 g per person. I think this was good enough for us.

Now that we have the Tefal Electric Steamer, it was very convenient for me to double boil bird's nest. After soaking the bird's nest for 1 hour, I removed the soaking water and put about 1 small bowl of water  to the bird's nest and steamed for 45 minutes.

Dried bird's nest

Cooked bird's nest

After 45 minutes, I added rock sugar to the bird's nest soup and it was ready for consumption. We were satisfied with the consistency. 

Last week, we saw that there was a stall at Causeway Point mall selling freshly double boiled bird's nest. Coincidentally, they also used the Tefal Electric steamer to double boil their bird's nest. :)

[S$50.00]HOCKHUA TONIC OFFICIAL E-STORE|福華官方商城|金牛特级冰糖洞燕配套（两盒）|Golden Cow Special Grade Birdnest with Rock Sugar 1 SET (2 BOX)|Store Pickup Available|

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Bird's Nest

Ardon was coughing badly a few weeks ago. He had seen the doctor and took a few doses of the cough mixture given. However, he still had phlegm in his throat and was not able to get it out completely. The cough mixture would cause drowsiness, so he was reluctant to continue taking it as it would interfere with his daily activities. 

Then, I remembered bird's nest had worked wonders for him when he was a child. Since he had been coughing for about 2 weeks, I thought we should give the bird's nest a try again. 

Bird's nest is known to contain many antioxidants, amino acids, collagen, protein and many other nutrients. It can help to boost immunity.

So I began my search for more information on bird's nest and here's what I had found:

1. The best time to take bird's nest is in the morning before food or night time before sleeping (helps us to sleep better too). Next would be 2 hours between meals. 

2. The quantity of bird's nest to consume every day should be between 1 to 5 g. Below 1 g, it is ineffective. If we consume more than 5 g, the human body cannot absorb that much and hence, would be wasted.

After doing all the research, we went to Hock Hua Tonic. After checking with the staff on the different bird's nest options and efficacy, we decided on a set that contains 2 g of bird's nest in each bottle.  

After drinking 2 bottles on two consecutive mornings, Ardon said he felt that the phlegm had turned thinner and was easier to cough out. He drank another bottle two days later and, since then, he had recovered. 

Personally, I feel that bird's nest is one of those few tonics that are not bitter. They are usually double boiled with rock sugar which makes it even more palatable. It's a good choice to start for taking tonics. However, be careful not to "overdose". As with all food, eat tonics in moderation too (unless you have a prescription).

[S$89.00][HOCKHUA]HOCKHUA TONIC|金牛特级冰糖/泡参洞燕(配套)|Golden Cow Special Grade Birdnest with Rock Sugar and Ginseng Set|6 Bot x 150g|Store Pickup Available|

WWW.QOO10.SG