Making Swallow Bird’s Nest for Pregnancy

Traditionally, Swallow Bird’s Nest is believed to have cooling properties, improves general pregnancy's well-being and is potentially good for the unborn baby's complexion. Some Chinese expectant mothers would consume Swallow Bird’s Nest or drinks regularly during their pregnancy or maybe starting in their second tri-semester onwards. I personally was always resistant in purchasing or consuming Swallow Bird’s Nest during my pregnancy because (1) Swallow Bird’s Nests are very expensive and such luxury products to consume and (2) From my reading, there is no actual medical or scientific research result that proves the benefits of Swallow Bird’s Nests on pregnant women; that's why I did not invest on buying Swallow Bird’s Nests for my pregnancy early on.

As one of my birthday presents, my husband bought some dry Swallow Bird’s Nests for me. Despite the fact that at the time he bought the Swallow Bird’s Nests I was already about 2 weeks away from delivering our baby; my husband insists that I should at least consume a little bit of Swallow Bird’s Nest to promote my pregnancy's well-being. He said, it is better late than never or not taking the soup at all. I complied. This said, I only started consuming this soup earlier this week.
Anyhow, my Mother-in-Law was the one who helped me prepare my first Swallow Bird’s Nest because I had no knowledge at all in preparing this kind of soup. As you might have known, I am always careful in consuming herbal remedies during my pregnancy, therefore I refused putting any kind of Chinese herbs into my Swallow Bird’s Nest. My Mother-in-Law had no problem with my request and just put some water and rock sugar for my Swallow Bird’s Nest. Yesterday, when my Mother-in-Law was about to prepare my second Swallow Bird’s Nest, I told her that I wanted to try preparing it myself so she taught me how to.
Before I forget the relatively simple steps in preparing this Chinese delicacy, the following is the methods I did in preparing the plain or basic version of home-made Swallow Bird’s Nest for my pregnancy. The results of Swallow Bird’s Nest below could be consumed by one or two persons.

Making Swallow Bird’s Nest for Pregnancy

Swallow Bird’s Nest for Pregnancy

Ingredients:

1pc Dry Swallow Bird’s Nest
1 cup Hot water
1 cup Drinking water or boiled then cooled water, for soaking
5-6 pcs Rock/Lump sugar

Methods:

1. Soak the dry Swallow Bird’s Nest in a bowl of water for about 30 minutes. Use drinking water or water that has been boiled and cooled down to soak the Swallow Bird’s Nest. After 30 minutes, carefully strain the Swallow Bird’s Nest and throw the water away.
2. Put the soaked Swallow Bird’s Nest and pour 1 cup of hot water into a slow cooker. If you prefer thinner soup, you may add more hot water into the slow cooker. Cook the soaked Swallow Bird’s Nest and water in the slow cooker for about 2 hours.
3. Once the Swallow Bird’s Nest is soft and cooked, add the rock sugar into the Swallow Bird’s Nest in the slow cooker and stir gently. You may add more rock sugar into the soup if you wish for sweeter Swallow Bird’s Nest. Turn the slow cooker off.
4. Consume the Swallow Bird’s Nest when it is cooled.
I think the home-made Swallow Bird’s Nest tastes more natural and possesses a pretty strong 'egg-like' smell than instant or bottled Swallow Bird’s Nest drink bought from supermarkets or TCM shops. Nevertheless, the plain home-made Swallow Bird’s Nest is still bearable to drink.
I found this article that may be useful in preparing Swallow Bird’s Nest and alternatives in cooking home-made Swallow Bird’s Nest to make it more delectable by adding pandan leaves, dried red dates, dried longan, etc..