Comfort Food?

Tonight, I'm cooking a chicken soup my mom makes for us whenever we are under the weather. The last time she made it for me was about 2 years, 8 months ago when I had my first child. She also taught me how to make it at that time.

It is a comfort food for me, but I don't know if others would agree, as it requires some Chinese herbs. It tastes very medicinal, too. Here are some of the things I put into the pot. Clockwise from the top: ginseng root, some sort of bitter herb, some sort of less bitter herb, dried whelk (I think it's a type of shellfish), dried goji berries, dried jujubees, and dried shitake mushrooms.

In a pot, sear chicken legs in sesame oil. Fresh ginger root is a key ingredient in this dish that I didn't have. I cheated and sprinkled ground ginger on the chicken. Hmmm...we'll see what happens. Deglaze with rice wine. Add water to cover the chicken, and put the remaining ingredients into the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is very tender, approximately and hour or so.