Japanese Beauty Hotpot BiJin Nabe (美人锅) – Collagen-rich Chicken Soup

Japanese Beauty Hotpot BiJin Nabe (美人锅) – Collagen-rich Chicken Soup

Bijin Nabe (美人锅) – is a pot of creamy collagen-rich chicken broth that is boiled under medium heat for more than 8 hours until the bone melted, the collagen has broken down and until every last bit of goodness is in the broth. It is a pot of soup that is good for bone health and superb for a wrinkle-free skin!

Upon hearing Bijin Nabe, many will have Tsukada Nojo’s Bijin Nabe popping up in their head. Yes! This recipe is totally inspired by them and the taste exactly the same hehe buey paiseh. Now, you can make it in your own kitchen, less the queue and the hefty bills after dinner.

Like Tsukada Nojo, I also do not recommend adding ingredients that are too strong in taste, like beef, mutton, etc that will alter the original taste of the chicken soup. Prawns also to be added last as it will add a very sweet yet prawny taste to the soup.

Beside the broth, this post also provide a bonus recipe for the Tsukune – Japanese Meatball. And I added a special ingredient for a dynamite crunch!

The broth, when chill, will become a milky-collagen pudding that can be melted back to into its liquidified state.

This pot was out in room temperature for a while to take photo and the pudding starts to slowly liquidify.

To make this broth, a lot of patience is required. Not that it is very difficult, just that the 1st few steps are not to be skipped to ensure that you get the purest creamy soup as end result. Do not use slow cooker or pressure cooker as it’s the rolling boil that breaks down the marrow, fats and any connective tissues that makes the broth milky with the sticky-lipped feel.

To achieve the milky collagen broth, chicken bones and chicken feet (or wing tips) are used.

You can use wing tip instead of feet if you can find it. I got my wing tip from the butcher in the market.

Wash the feet (or tips) and bones and fill the pot with water until it fully covers the feet and bones. Let it boil under high heat for 5 minutes until all the scums of the feet and bones are floating on top of the pot of boiling water