Chaga - Gift of the Gods?

Chaga is one of the weirdest mushrooms you may ever see. A fungal parasite found on birch trees, Chaga is a hardened, blackened, crusty formation that looks like a bursting tumor. - Paul Stamets, Fungi Perfecti

I was nodding away at my computer so I decided to grab a cup of coffee and stretch my legs. I ran into my wife Lisa who was opening a bottle of Chaga extract she had purchased online. I read somewhere that you can marinate chicken legs in Chaga tea before roasting which gave them a very pleasant, almost pheasant-like flavor. I was completely intrigued, I had only heard of the mushrooms and their health qualities. No one had ever talked about using them in a culinary sense.

Gift of God

Chaga Mushrooms are known as the 'gift of God' or 'mushroom of immortality' by Siberians. It has been used as an herbal remedy for well over 5,300 years. Chaga mushrooms are wild foraged from birch trees in Alaska and other Northern extremes. Their health benefits are staggering, fueling scientific claims they fight cancers and a host of other medical ailments. The Russians have probably done the most research. Chaga was approved for public use against cancer by the Medical Academy of Science in Moscow in 1955. Russian scientists are very confident about the healing properties because of the numerous studies and clinical trials have been conducted in this country since then.According to the Russian Medical Academy:• have a positive effect on lung and liver cancer• calm the nervous system• are proven to positively affect various stomach diseases and ulcers• stimulate the immune system• help to reduce blood sugar and fight diabetesTo learn more about Chaga and other mushrooms, listen to Paul Stamets' informative Ted Talk.

Chaga Chicken Soup

I am more interested in the edible aspects of Chaga, though I admit to drinking several cups of Chaga tea every day for other reasons. I decided to try the marinated chicken one step further and make a Chaga ramen-like soup based on a recipe I obtained from a Japanese chef friend. Give this recipe a go in your own kitchen.

Chaga Chicken Soup

A nourishing soup made from Chaga mushrooms, buckwheat pasta, and winter vegetables

marinate chicken

• 2 cups cold Chaga tea (see notes)
• 3.5 pound chicken

soup base

• 2 cups leftover chicken marinade
• 4 cups chicken stock (see notes)
• 4 cups basic dashi broth (see notes)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce

finishing the soup

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 5 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped)
• 1 2-inch section fresh ginger root (peeled and chopped fine)
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tsp chili paste (or more to taste)
• 2 cups shiitake mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 cup fresh cabbage (shredded)
• 1 sweet onion (peeled and sliced thin)
• 2 carrots (peeled and sliced using a vegetable peeler to cut ribbons)
• 4 ounces buckwheat noodles (cooked)

marinate chicken

1. Cut the chicken into eight pieces; legs, thighs, breasts, and wings. Marinate them in cold Chaga tea overnight. Save the carcass to make homemade chicken stock, see notes.

roast chicken

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Strain the chicken, saving both the chicken and the marinade. In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until smoking hot. Arrange the chicken pieces skin-side down, season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking until well browned on both sides, about 10 minutes. You may need to cook in two batches. Pop the entire pan into the oven and roast for 30 minutes, or until chicken is done. You will notice that with Chaga more sugars are released out of the chicken causing the skin to caramelize beautifully. It will be a gorgeous mahogany color and be, nice and crispy, full of a deep chicken flavor.

soup base

1. While the chicken is roasting, mix the leftover Chaga marinade, chicken stock, dashi, and soy together in a large Dutch pot and bring to a rapid boil. Remove from heat and let sit while preparing the next steps.

finishing the soup

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until smoking hot. Add garlic and ginger and cook until lightly brown, about 3 minutes. Add ground pork and cook until it is fully cooked, about five minutes. Add hoisin sauce and chili paste and reserve.

2. Heat remaining vegetable oil in a Dutch oven and saute shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, onion, and carrots over medium-high heat until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the cooked pork and soup base, then bring to a rapid boil.

3. To serve, put noodles in a big bowl and ladle soup over. Garnish the bowl with a piece of roasted Chaga chicken.

Chaga Tea is made by steeping Chaga in hot water just like you make regular tea. You can buy powdered chaga already in tea bags or put chaga powdered into bags yourself. I recommend finding a fine chaga powder for this application.

Dashi broth is made by simmering one piece of kombu in 5 cups of cold water with 1.5 cups of bonito flakes for 20 minutes. Strain the fragrant broth and discard the solids. All the ingredients are readily available at almost every Asian grocery or online. I make gallons of dashi then freeze quart-sized containers to use for recipes such as this.

Homemade Chicken stock is easy to make at home. Follow my recipe available here.

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