Shark Fin Melon Soup

If I say the art of boiling soup plays a big role in the Cantonese food heritage, I don't think you will have any objection on this. Recall the very motherly roles in Hong Kong series, they are good in boiling soup.

Being a Cantonese who got married to another Cantonese, don't think our home will ever lack of soups. I make it a point to have at least two simmered soups (煲湯, 'bao tang') and two quick boiled soups (滾湯, 'gun tang') every week. I have heard from mothers that it is difficult to make their kids drink soup but thank God, I don't have this problem with Jeriel. Probably he is so used to having soups since he started taking solids.

Today's recipe is a real simple one. I am not sure how difficult it is for you who are staying in overseas to get hold of shark fin melon （鱼翅瓜）but you can always replace it with winter melon （冬瓜）.

Shark Fin Melon Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

500g pork ribs or bones

900g shark fin melon (鱼翅瓜), skinned, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

50g red dates

10g dried squids

100g salted vegetable (大头菜）

2.5L water

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean pork bones/ribs. In a pot, add water enough to cover the pork bones or ribs; bring water and bones/ribs to a boil. Continue to boil for 2-3 minutes to get rid of impurities and blood stains. Wash bones again under running water.

2. In another pot, combine all ingredients except salt, including the cleaned pork bones/ribs. Bring to a boil, lower heat and continue to boil for 2 hours.

3. Season with salt, if necessary.

Love,

Dried Daylily & Black Fungus Fish Soup (金针木耳滚鱼汤）

Let me tell you something about myself. I am obsessed with recipe books, but thank God my craving for recipe books is periodical rather than continuous. There was a particular period of time, I was into French pastries and dessert plating, which resulted an invoice of more than RM400 for 6 books at one shot. Recently I have been very much interested in Taiwanese publications. This had caused the importing of 8 cookbooks in one shipment.

Today's recipe was adapted from one of the recipe books I bought during my Hong Kong trip. This book is called '快捷滚烫COOK得起', bought during my obsession with soup recipes. 滚烫 (quick boiling) is a quick way of preparing soup compared to 煲汤 (slow boiling), which the whole boiling process can easily take up to 3 hours. A bowl of quick boiled soup doesn't mean its nutritional value is compromised. In fact, a short boiling process is good especially for food like vegetables to ensure not too much vitamins and nutrients are lost during the boiling process.




Daylily & Black Fungus Fish Soup (金针木耳滚鱼汤）
Adapted from '快捷滚烫COOK得起'

Ingredients:
20g dried daylilies (or golden needles金针), soaked till soft
20g black fungus (木耳), soaked till soft and shredded
2 tomatoes, cut into large wedges
1 medium size fish, cleaned
3 slices ginger
Oil for frying
2.5L water
Dash of ground black pepper
Salt to taste


Method:

1. Prepare all ingredients as directed.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add in ginger slices and fry both sides of fish at medium heat till cooked. Drain as much oil as possible.
3. In a pot, start boiling water. Add in fried fish, dried daylilies, black fungus and tomatoes and bring water to a boil. Reduce water and boil for another 15 minutes.
4. Taste with salt and pepper.

Ham & Onion Soup

Today's recipe is part of my freezer cleaning program which utilises my green peas and chicken ham. It is an ideal way of putting something simple and fast yet delicious on the dining table. It accompanies your lazy Sunday brunch or the soup alone is filling enough to start your Sunday off. Give it a try.


Ham & Onion Soup
Serves 5-6

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
50g frozen green peas
80g chicken ham, diced
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
2L chicken broth
Salt and freshly group pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1 stalk spring onion, chopped (optional)


Method:

1. Heat oil in pot or wok. Saute diced onion until fragrant.
2. Pour in chicken broth. Add in ham and green peas.
3. Bring soup to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Taste with salt and pepper. Turn to high heat and bring the soup to a boil again.
5. Pour beaten egg from above the soup in a slow steady stream to create egg drop.
6. Garnish with chopped spring onion if desired.

American Ginseng & Lotus Seed Soup (花旗蔘莲子瘦肉汤)

I had a chance to visit my boss's family in Toronto last year. I managed to do some shopping although it was not really a long trip, as the idea was actually to meet her up at Toronto before flying together to Omaha, USA to attend the annual ICES exhibition.

I guess the first thing one could think of bringing back from Canada as souvenir is its maple syrup. So apart from bringing this, I did grab some newly discovered asian sauces, different varieties of BBQ sauces, nuts, dried berries, interesting kitchen gadgets, and not forgetting the famous American Ginseng. If you ever consider buying ginseng in bulk, you may want to bring it back in its original root form and store it air tightly in the freezer. Chopping it into thin slices encourages moisture loss. What I normally do when I need to use the ginseng is, take the amount of ginseng (still in its root form) enough for 2-3 times of soup making and get it chopped for RM5 at the herbal shop opposite of my office.

Today's recipe is a simple way of boiling tonic soup with American Ginseng. As a matter of fact, I am in the mid of clearing my pantry, especially the old 'stock'. You will see more recipes from me.


American Ginseng & Lotus Seed Soup (花旗蔘莲子瘦肉汤)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
15g American ginseng
40g lotus seeds
160g lean pork, sliced
2L water
Salt to taste


Method:

1. Clean ginseng and lotus seeds thoroughly. Soak them till soft.
2. Including the water for soaking ginseng and lotus seeds, except salt, combine all ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and keep simmering for 1 hour. Taste with salt. Serve hot.

The Art of Boiling Soup

A lot of us claim that boiling soup is the easiest thing to do in the art of cooking. It looks like boiling soup is just a matter of combining all ingredients in to a pot, bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer or double boil for 2-3 hours. It is not difficult, really, but if we were to get hold of the little tricks in making soup, our soups will turn out to be better, in terms of taste and nutritional value.

1. Selection of ingredients - Meats and vegetables used for boiling soup have to be as fresh as possible. To cut down oiliness, pick only parts like lean meat, chicken breast, pork bones, ribs, chicken feet, chicken wings etc. In the case of using chicken carcasses, trim all fats. Point (2) below also helps in getting rid part of oiliness of meats.
2. Pre-treatment of raw ingredients - Clean all meats, bones, vegetables and herbs thoroughly. Ingredients like bones/ribs/carcasses and preferably also herbs have to be boiled and removed their fats and impurities. Follow Step 1 of below recipe for pre-treatment of meats and bones. Take note that water must not be brought to a boil before meats or bones are added. The temperature of the hot boiling water causes a sudden shrinkage at the outer layer of the meat, forming a 'skin' that prevents juices of meats from loosing into the water. This is not desired in soup boiling as what we want is the essence of meat in our soup.
3. Addition of ingredients - The addition of ingredients, including meats, vegetables, herbs and other dried ingredients into the soup has to be done when the water is still cold due to the same reason as mentioned in Point 2 above.
4. Boiling time - Boiling time defers according to the ingredients being used. Soup that contains pork bones has to be boiled longer while fish soup can be ready within 1 hour.
5. Impurities and oil - Despite the pre-treatment in Point 2, there will still be impurities and oil in the soup due to the long boiling process. Use a fine strainer to remove these.
6. Seasoning - Salt can only be added at the end of the boiling process, before serving. Addition of salt at the begining of the boiling will cause contraction in the meat protein, making it difficult for juices/essence of meat from penetrating into the soup. Soup that contains seafood is normally seasoned with ginger (shreds or juice) and group black pepper to rid the strong smell of most seafood.

Sweet Corn & Pork Bone Soup

Ingredients:
500g pork bones or ribs
2 sweet corns, halved
2 carrots, cut into sections
2 candied dates (金丝蜜枣）
2.5L water
Salt to taste (I needed only 1/2 tsp)


Method:

1. Clean pork bones/ribs. In a pot, add water enough to cover the pork bones or ribs; bring water and bones/ribs to a boil. Continue to boil for 2-3 minutes to get rid of impurities and blood stains. Wash bones again under running water.
2. In another pot, combine all ingredients, including the cleaned pork bones/ribs. Bring to a boil, lower heat and continue to boil for 2 hours.
3. Season with salt, if necessary.

Reference:

http://www.ytower.com/

Special Feature: Nutritious Tonic Soups I

I know how hectic life can be for a full-time working mom, because I am one. We are constantly struggling in balancing our time between work and family. We want to excel in our career and at the same time trying to do our very best as a wife and a mother, to allocate time for our family. How many times you wanna cook a delicious and nutritious meal for your family, but ended up having to scrap the idea because you couldn't get back on time before dinner? Or, you simply do not have any idea where to start planning your menu?

Lately, I have been going through books and webpages to find out new recipes on soup. I have been boiling the same old soups all these years. It's time to have a revamp in my soup menu since Jeriel is fully on solid now. The first few years of life are extremely important to the growth and development of a kid. A child's diet in the first few years are of vital importance, as this is the crucial time when the foundations for future good health are laid. It matters for a lifetime.

This is going to be the first in this series of my soup recipes. I am going to first introduce the slightly time consuming 'simmered' soup (煲湯, 'bao tang') then it will be the 'boiled' soup (滾湯, 'gun tang') in my next feature. Since these soups are meant for busy working moms, even the so-called 'simmering', it shall not take more than 1 hour. I truly hope you will find these recipes useful. Have fun making soup!

Recipes coming soon.........

1. Apple Seaweed & Pork Rib Soup
2. Chicken & Mixed Vegetable Soup
3. Apple & White Fungus Soup