Ingredients

   
907g chicken legs, split into thighs and drumsticks
20g ginger (5cm), half sliced, half julienned
6 cloves garlic
1900g water
454g clams, purged and scrubbed
14g sesame oil
15g rice wine (米酒, optional)
  salt
2 scallions, julienned

Steps

  1. Put the chicken in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and hold at a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Move the chicken to a clean pot and discard the blanching water.

  2. Add the sliced ginger, garlic, and 1900g water. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, 1 hour, until the chicken is falling off the bone.

  3. Add the clams. Cover and boil 3–4 minutes, until they open.

  4. Take the pot off the heat. Stir in the sesame oil and rice wine. Season with salt.

  5. Serve topped with the julienned ginger and scallions.

Notes

  • Taiwanese 蛤蜊雞湯 (ge li ji tang). Hard clams or purple clams are standard in Taiwan; littleneck or Manila work.
  • Purge the clams first: 1 hour in 3% salt water, as in Clam Miso Soup.
  • Blanching strips the blood and surface proteins that would otherwise cloud the broth and form scum.
  • Pull the pot off the heat as soon as the clams open — residual heat finishes them, and they toughen fast. Discard any that stay shut.
  • Rice wine here is clear Taiwanese 米酒. Mirin or Shaoxing substitute.
  • Shortcut: skip the chicken. Bring homemade chicken stock to a boil, add the ginger, garlic and clams, and finish as above.