Old cucumber soup with pork ribs 老黄瓜汤!

Ingredients :

Pork ribs ( about $6)
1 Old cucumber
8 red dates
1 dry octopus
1 carrot
5 honey dates
3 big dry scallops

Methods :
Use a small pot and boil the pork ribs first to get rid of any oil and dirt
Rinse again to remove any dirt.
Presoak the scallops with water first.
In a soup pot ,boil about 1 litres of water

Chop up old cucumber and remove the seeds
Chop up the carrot into bite sizes
Wash the red dates, dry octopus and honey dates
If you have time, you can soak the red dates and honey dates for a while.

When the soup pot boiled, add in the pork ribs, follow by all the ingredients
Simmer on low flame for about 2 hours or till the soup turn darker .
Taste the soup and adjust accordingly to your own preferences

Shark's Fin Melon Soup (鱼翅瓜汤)

 

 

 After an hour or so of slow cooking, the flesh of this melon will disintegrate into fine 'noodle-like' strands which resemble shark-fin. This is yummy and full of flavor. Here are some benefits of the Shark's Fin Melon:

- Low in calories 
- Expels heatiness
- Decreases blood sugar

Ingredients:


Stock:

3 litres water
1.5 kg pork bones, blanched/ 4 chicken carcasses, blanched/ 1 whole fish bones
1 knob of ginger
2 scallions

• Fill a stock pot with 3 litres of water and bring to the boil.  Put in chicken carcasses/ pork bones/ fish bones which have been blanched.  Add in ginger and scallions.
• Bring it back to the boil and let simmer for about 2 hours or more.  
• Strain stock.

Note:  Stock can be stored in individual containers and freeze for future use.

Shark Fin's Melon Soup ( serve 5 )

1.5 lit stock
 Half shark fin's melon
1 Piece of dry cuttlefish ( washed and soaked)
1-2  honey dates (蜜枣） or 10 red dates
6 dried scallops, washed and soaked to soften
2 small carrots, cut into chunks
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

Some Celery

Wolfberries

• Cut melon into big chunks (without skin) and discard the seeds.
• Bring the stock to the boil and put in all the ingredients.  
• Simmer soup for about 60 - 90 mins.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve hot.

Shark's fin melon

 

Ingredients to go into the soup

Watercress soup

Recipe

- 1 bundle fresh watercress
- 200g chicken bones and 200g pork ribs
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
- 3 medium dried scallops ( soak in hot water for 10 minutes till soften )
- 1 handful pitted red dates
- 1 handful Chinese wolfberries
- 3 large soup bowls of water

Methods

1. Rinse watercress thoroughly.

2. In a soup pot, put all ingredients in and bring to a gradual boil over medium heat. Once the water comes to a rolling bowl, lower the flame and let the soup simmer gently. This should take about an hour or longer, if you want a more robust flavor.

Note:

• To avoid the bitter taste in the watercress, my grand mum used to teach me NOT to put the veg in when the water is boiling. Instead, we should put them into the soup pot with room temperature water, and THEN let the whole thing boil. This way, the veg will not have a bitter aftertaste when cooked. This is done and proved.
• A lady shared with me that her parents used fish bones for this soup and it is equally yummy as well.

Apple and Pear Pork ribs soup

The soup is very refreshing and light and slightly sweet taste. Most importantly, my family loves it.

Ingredients:

( Serves a family of 4)

1 big Fuji apple (or other kind of apple) - cut into quarter ( keep the skin on)

2 pear - cut into quarter ( keep the skin on)

1 honey date

A few red dates

A small handful of Chinese almond kernels (南北杏）

300g of Pork ribs

A pinch of salt to taste

Celery for garnish

Method:

1) Blanch the pork ribs in hot boiling water and remove.  Set aside.

2) Bring a pot of water to boil.  Add in all the ingredients and bring to boil.  Lower heat to simmer for an hour.

3) Serve warm and garnish with celery

 

 

Winter melon soup

Ingredients:

1 slice of winter melon
3 dry Japanese scallops
4-5 pieces of pork ribs ( use the soft bones types)
1/2 cup of ikan bilis
1 dry cuttlefish
A handful of wolfberries
1 carrot cut into slices
8-10 red dates ( small)

Methods:

Boil the pork ribs to remove any oil or dirt .
Pour away the hot water and wahs the pork ribs to remove any oil or broken bones
Boil a fresh pot of water about 1-2 litres
Add in all the ingredients except the wolfberries
Let it boil and cooked over slow flame for 45- 60 minutes .
When ready to serve, add some sea salt for taste n sprinkle the wolf berries on top.

Note: I am using the tiger Thermal cooker so I just boil my soup for 20 minutes and left it to cook on its own in the pot for the next 5-6 hours.

Peanuts roots soup

 

 

 

 

 

This is an interesting and yummy soup. I never heard of it before until I read it from a blog that  many parents believe that the roots of peanut help children to  grow taller. I honestly don't know if this is true, but my research on the web makes me want to this soup for my family.

Peanut root, according to research, is full of the anti-oxidant, Resveratrol, usually associated with red wine, which helps protects the heart and lower cholesterol, and helps prevent cancer. The finished soup is full of peanut fragrance and my 3 kids love the soup.


Ingredients:

Peanut Root, 500g
Pork Muscle / lean pork, 500gm
Water, 3L
5 red dates
5 dry scallops
some wolfberries


Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a soup pot, filled with 4l of water
2. Bring to the boil for 30 mins, then boil over medium-low heat for 2 hrs.
3. salt to taste


Note:

- To wash Peanut Roots, stripe off the top leaves, only leaving those near the bottom. The leaves would give the soup a biter taste. I usually wash it several times, shaking the roots in the water like whisking, to loosen the soil and dirt.



Original recipe from :http://whatscookingdaddy.blogspot.sg/2007/09/peanut-root-soup.html

Double boiled black chicken herbal soup

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

15 Red dates

20g Cordyceps Militaris

Some wolfberries

4 pieces of Dang Shen

3 pieces of Huai Shan

3 pieces of Qi Pian

4 pieces of Tian Qi

1/4 black chicken

 

Methods:

 

Wash the herbs and chicken

Put all the herbs and chicken into the double boiler

Boil on high for 15 minutes and simmer on low flame for 4 hours

 

 

 



 

Crocodile Herbal Soup

Ingredients:

One packet of Crocodile flank meat
One packet of herbs

Content of HerbsBei Qi 北芪
Dang Shen 当参
Nan Xing 南杏
Bei Xing 北杏
Huai Shan 淮山
Yu Zhu 玉竹
Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子
few red dates (红枣)


Methods:

1) Boil a pot of water and blanch the crocodile meat
2) Boil another pot of water add in all the herbs and boil for 30minutes
3) Add in the crocodile meat and simmer.
4) Let it cook for 2 to 3 hours and don’t forget to add some Shaoxing wine aka Hua Diao Jiu (花雕酒) to further enhance the taste better.


It is advisable to eat the crocodile meat, otherwise slice the meat into shreds and add into the porridge.

The Health Benefits of Crocodile Meat

• Good for asthma people.
• Good for general health purposes.
• Fish-like products.
• Low cholesterol.
• Family friendly (everybody in the family can use it).