Astragalus Pork Soup

I only get to cook during the weekends so I try to cook a chinese soup if possible, especially when I can find the ingredients. It helps too to have an appreciative “guinea pig” to try my cooking … my dear sister.

I cheated a little with this astragalus pork soup because the chinese herbs came in a pre-mixed soup pack. I only bought fresh pork ribs to go with it.

You can find the detailed ingredient list and directions over at my website: http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/astragalus-pork-soup.html

This is the pork ribs that I have parboiled and then rinsed to remove any froth and dirt.

This is the chinese herbs in the soup pack. The packaging states that this soup mix is for general tiredness. Yup, just right for my sister and I who were feeling tired (probably overworked).

From left & clockwise: astragalus (黄芪), dried chinese yam (淮山), codonopsis root (党参), dates (black here but you can use red dates), dried longan (龙眼干) and chinese wolfberries (枸杞子).

I used a thermal magic pot to make this soup.

I brought a pot of water to a boil in the inner pot of the magic pot over the stove-top. Then, I placed the parboiled pork ribs and the chinese herbs (except the chinese wolfberries) into the water. I let it simmer cheerily for about 15 minutes before removing from the stove-top and placing the inner pot into the outer casing. Cover and seal properly.

I didn’t add the chinese wolfberries because I did not want it to become too mushy.

It was a mistake because they were not soft enough by the time I served the soup.

The finished product.

Tomato Egg Drop Soup Recipe – New Photo Added

I made tomato egg drop soup for dinner on Sunday.

I referred to the tomato egg drop soup recipe at my Homemade Chinese Soups website.

Elsie helped take the photo and I put it up. I am pleased with the way the soup and the photo turned out.

Here’s the photo:

Cooking Shrimp Ball Soup With Straw Mushrooms

Inspiration hits this weekend and I whipped up some shrimp ball soup using the recipe from my soup recipe website.

Taking some photos of the finished product for this recipe has been on my to-do list for so long but I didn’t have the mojo to do it. It is a good thing I have it now. Better capitalize on it.

I chopped the shrimps by hand, with a small knife. A food processor would have been better but my sister didn’t have it at her place (I was staying with her over the weekend).

I added the seasonings and mixed thoroughly.

I used a teaspoon to help size and shape the shrimp balls. I scooped about a teaspoonful onto the palm of my hand. It is not too sticky and I shaped it using the teaspoon and my hand.

I can drop the balls straight into boiling water but decided to lay them out on a plate first for a photo.

The shrimp balls after the “hot bath”.

I made the soup stock from the shrimp shells and heads. After removing the shells and heads, I reheated the stock and added a soup stock cube (bouillion).

I then added straw mushrooms that I bought from the supermarket. Canned of course. The shrimp balls went in last. It needed a little bit more salt and pepper before serving.

It was served with stir-fried broccoli with straw mushrooms and garlic and shrimp-flavored short-grained rice.

I am not boasting but it was really quite good. I should cook more often.

Hot And Sour Soup Recipes – Uploaded!

The Szechwan hot and sour soups are well-known around the world. Many variations exist as the dish travel around the world and people try to localize it.

A big bowl of soup speaks so much of the communal eating habit of the Chinese.

Photo source: stu_spivack at flickr

Here are the list of recipes. The first 6 are mine while the 7th is a link to a recipe I found on a blog by Jen. Her version contains dried tiger lily buds which is yummy.

1. Chinese hot and sour soup No. 1
   Ingredients include soft tofu, chicken, pork, and Chinese black mushrooms
2. Chinese hot and sour soup No. 2
   Ingredients include pork, black fungus, carrot and celery
3. Chinese hot and sour soup No. 3
   Ingredients include soft tofu, black fungus, pork, preserved vegetable and tomato
4. Hot and sour chicken and tofu soup
   Ingredients include chicken, preserved vegetable, carrot, water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms, straw mushrooms, soft tofu, crab meat
5. Vegetarian hot and sour soup No. 1
   Ingredients include shiitake mushrooms, firm tofu, preserved vegetable, fa cai, and enoki mushrooms
6. Vegetarian hot and sour soup No. 2
   Ingredients include bamboo shoot, soft tofu, shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, and dried lily buds
7. Vegetarian hot and sour soup recipe No. 3
   This is a recipe by Jen from The Use Real Butter blog. Comes with some really nice pictures. I think the soup can be thickened a little more though. ENJOY!

Fuzhou Fishball Soup (福州鱼丸汤）

These fishballs are not what they seem.

One bite and you will experience a burst of juiciness and sweetness of the ground meat filling within.

I love these Fuzhou (fook chow) fishballs 福州鱼丸

This is a classic Fuzhou dish. A small well-marinated pork mix is wrapped with a springy fresh fish paste and shaped into balls.

They are best served in a light broth with generous helpings of green leafy vegetables. I had these with choy sum.

They are so easy to prepare. The fish balls can be found sold frozen in packets in the freezer section or fresh in the refrigerated section of the supermarket.

1. Bring your soup broth to the boil, add the fishballs and boil until they float to the surface.
2. Wash and cut your choy sum bunches into 3-inch sections and add them to the soup.
3. Cook till the vegetables are done.
4. Garnish with pepper and dash of sesame oil and serve hot!

Thin Rice Porridge For Breakfast

Grandma thought I was not feeling well when she saw me “collapsed” into the sofa one night. The next morning, she cooked some thin rice porridge.

Well, I wasn’t sick, I was just sooooo tired after a long day at work. But it was so nice of her.

I added some pork floss to the plain rice porridge and TADA! delicious rice porridge for breakfast.

Thin consistency: see how the rice grains are separated from the “soup”?

The pork floss isn’t the normal plain type either. See the white sesame seeds and nori seaweed? Grandma said she was feeling adventurous when she bought it.

Hee! It is quite good.

It is really easy to make rice porridge for breakfast.

Want to try? Rice porridge recipes available at http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/congee.html.

Homemade Wonton Soup

I came home to a bowl of homemade wonton soup yesterday.

hmmm, piping hot wontons

Grandma has great timing.

I was on my feet nearly the whole day setting up the autographed book display for a major exhibition on Thursday.

I was dehydrated as I forgot to bring my water bottle to the library and went without water for a few hours. My feet ached but thank God I had a good pair of leather pumps on.

It was wonderful to have nice comforting food after a hard day’s work.

Grandma added fresh choy sum for added nutrients and fibre. Yum!

The wonton recipe can be found at my website at www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/wontons.html.