Postpartum/Nourishing Winter Soup

Mutton Stew with Tangkuei and Fresh Ginger

During my studies about pregnancy, post, and prenatal care, I came across with this food grade remedy for postpartum care.

This recipe was written in 2nd century Chinese Herbal Medicine text, the Jing Gui Yao Lue under chapter 14: Women's Postpartum Diseases .

It was originally prescribed for fatigue, weakness, and abdominal pain and cramping due to Blood deficiency and Yang deficiency after childbirth but can also be used for a warming, winter tonic.

Here are the 3 main ingredients :

Dang Gui: Angelica Sinensis is a famous blood tonic that has been commonly used in gynecology.

Sheng Jiang: Fresh Ginger, warms the stomach, strengthens the digestion

Mutton: warms the yang and nourishes blood.

• Dang Gui 10g (place it in a cheese cloth so that you can easily remove it after cooking it)

• Fresh Ginger 20g

• Mutton meat (sustainable, pasture-raised)
  
  You can use use purified water or stock to boil Dang Gui, fresh ginger and mutton with some salt and then simmer it for couple hours. You can garnish it with some green onion and drink it warm.
  

  For vegetarians and plant based diet followers:
  
  Instead of mutton, you can use a vegetable stock and Add Dang Gui and fresh ginger while you make your broth.
  
  Here is a modified version of chef Mark Bittman's Vegetable Stock that I like to use:
  
  2 carrots, cut into chunks 
  1 onion, quartered
  1 potato, cut into chunks
  2 or 3 cloves garlic
  2 tablespoon olive oil 
  2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms
  
  Whether you cook it with mutton or not, for postpartum care or warming winter soup, it is delicious and nourishing, enjoy it!