Category Archives: Soup

Pork, Ribs, Soup, tofu

Braised Pork & Rib Soup Bento

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The rule of my husband’s bento: there must be at least 1 meat dish.

This time, I tried pork.

  1. Prepare soup. Cos soup is time-consuming. I can let the soup on the stove while preparing other dishes. Wash ribs. Put them in a pot and add in enough water. Bring to boil. Skim the soup to remove all the dirt. Simmer for 30 mins. Add in carrot and corn. And simmer for another 20-30 mins.
  2. Pork belly in the pot. Enough water in and bring to boil. Take the pork belly out and wash clean. Cut into small chunks. Heat a pan. Add in a little oil. Sear the pork belly till brownish. Add in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Stir fry evenly. Add in enough hot water, also bay leaves and star anise. Lid on and simmer for about 20 mins. Lid off and reduce the sauce with high heat,
  3. I also cooked tofu & chicken pancake. 1/4 chicken breast (diced). 1/4 carrot (diced). Heat a pan. Add in 2 tsp oil, Stir fry chicken and carrot till chicken turns white in color. 100g silk tofu in the bowl. Mash it with a fork. Add in the fried chicken and carrot. Also add in some chopped green onion, 2 tbsp flour. Season with salt and black pepper. Mix well. Heat pan again. Brush it with oil. Scoop batter with a spoon and drop into pan to fry till both sides turn golden brown.

Pork is a perfect match with rice.

Soup is good. Corn adds sweet taste to it.

Oh, I also add in some fried bitter gourd rings. My husband finished everything.

Beef, Soup

Ox Tail & White Radish Soup

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It’s a dish that I have wanted to try for a long time. It’s a time-consuming soup, which requires 5 hours. But I guarantee you its cooking method is simple and the soup is very nice.

  1. Prepare the ox tail. Wash them in water to rinse off the blood.
  2. Put all the ox tail into a deep pot. Add in enough water covers the tail.
  3. Turn to high heat. Bring it to boil. Take all the oxtail out. Wash in water again. To remove all the dirt.
  4. Place all the oxtail into the pot again. This time, add in much more water, cos we need to cook it for hours.
  5. High heat first, skim the soup to remove all the dirt. Turn to low heat and simmer for 2 hours.
  6. After 2 hours, skim the soup again to remove the fat.
  7. Lid on and simmer for another 1 hour.
  8. Prepare white radish and cut into chunks. Put all the radish into the soup. Simmer for another 1 hour. Radish will absorb the flavor.
  9. Season with salt and black pepper.

https://flic.kr/p/2g86vGv

After 4 hours cooking, the meat can easily fall off the bone. Very soft and juicy.

Sprinkle some green onion to garnish.

https://flic.kr/p/2g86vFP

mushroom, Soup

Creamy Mushroom Soup

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1. Prepare mushroom (cut into slices, about 250g), 1/2 chopped onion, 2 cloves of chopped garlic.

2. Heat a pan. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter, also add in 2 tsp olive oil. When butter melts, add in onion and garlic. Stir fry till onion turns transparent.

3. Add in mushroom, also sprinkle salt pepper and dried herbs. Stir fry till mushroom turn soft. Add in 1/2 cup flour. And stir fry evenly.

4. Pour in 1 cup stock. Bring to boil first, turn to low heat and simmer for 5 mins.

5. Pour everything into a blender. Blend till smooth.

6. Pour back to pot. Add in cream or milk. I only had milk in the fridge, so I have no choice.

7. Stir slowly to mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Fish, Soup

Yellow Croaker Fish (Huang Hua 黄花鱼) Soup

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My husband likes 100 seconds yellow croaker fish soup of Putien restaurant very much. The soup’s name 百秒黄花鱼 literally means cook yellow croaker fish for only 100 seconds. The soup is very nice and tasty.

We happened to see fresh yellow croaker sold in supermarket and we bough 2 of them. It’s very rare to see fresh yellow croacker here.

I tried to cook this soup, but I didn’t dare to cook fish for just 100 seconds since my fish looks much bigger. I worried 100 seconds is not long enough to cook fish thoroughly. So I decided to cook it for 3 mins.

  1. Cut fish open at the belly and make it look like a stingray. sprinkle a little salt all over the fish. Place fish in a big bowl, drizzle in cooking wine and several ginger slices. Marinate for about 20 mins.
  2. Prepare a big and deep pot or a wok. Add in 1 cup water, white part of 1 stalk spring onion, 2 ginger slices, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 pinch sugar. Bring to boil for 2 or 3 mins.
  3. Gently put the fish in. Cover the lid for 3 mins. To make sure fish is fully cooker, I let the lid on for another 30 seconds after 3 mins.
  4. Garnish with the rest spring onion green part.

https://flic.kr/p/2g2Y8Di

I have to say it’s definitely not as good as Putien restaurant.

Fish is cooked for sure.

My husband still thinks it’s very nice though.

 

egg, Soup, tomato

Tomato & Egg Soup

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I’ve been having this soup since I was very little. There is a little difference between the soup in the southern and northern China. Usually, southerners like soup and they like the soup that cooked for hours. I know many northerners like my family don’t consume too much time cooking soup. So fast soup like this tomato & egg tofu is popular in north.

Ingredients:

tomatoes 2

egg 1

1 pack tofu (optional)

salt

water

chopped spring onion

sesame oil

  1. Cut a cross at the bottom of tomatoes. Soak them in hot water for a little while. Then it can be peeled easily. Chop tomatoes into small cubes.
  2. Cut tofu into small pieces. Tofu is not a must-have ingredient in this soup. You can skip this step if you don’t have.
  3. Beat 1 egg into a bowl.
  4. Heat a pan. Drizzle in a little oil. Add in tomato pieces. Turn to low heat. Stir fry tomatoes till it turns very softened and mashed.
  5. Pour in 1/2 1 cup water. Also add in tofu if you have. Simmer for 5-8 mins.
  6. Dissolve 2 tsp starch in 1 tbsp water, and add into the soup. Stir well.
  7. Stir soup with a spoon and pour in beaten egg at the same time. cook for another 1 min to get egg done.
  8. Season with salt.

Garnish with spring onion and drizzle in sesame oil before serving.

Very simple and super fast.

Soup, tofu

Clam Soup With Tofu & Egg

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Ingredients:

Clam meat

1 egg

tofu cubes

water

salt

oil

  1. Heat a little oil in the pan. Add in clam meat, and stir fry till aromatic.
  2. Pour in 2 cups of hot water. Also cut in tofu cubes. Water will become milky white in color.
  3. Bring soup to boil. And simmer for 3- 5 mins.
  4. Beat 1 egg in a bowl. Add egg into the  soup. Bring to boil again.
  5. Season with salt.

You can serve with a drop of sesame oil and coriander or chopped spring onion.

My husband loves it.

Chicken, Soup

ABC Soup

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My husband used to cook this soup for me.  That’s really shocking since he seldom cooks. He cooks for maybe 10 times at most and chooses to cook soup. Why? Because he just needs to put all the ingredients into a pot and let the cooker do the rest work. That’s why I cannot say he doesn’t cook at all.

According to him, this soup is full of vitamin A,  B and C, and that’s how it gets the name.

Main ingredients are chicken leg (you can even use pork instead), vegetables (tomato, potato, carrot and onion). The most complicated part is to handle vegetables. (When my husband cooked this soup last time, I cleaned and cut all the vegetable for him.) Cut vegetables into medium chunks.

Put chicken leg into a pot, add in enough water. Bring to boil with high heat first. Skim the soup and remove all the dirt to make sure soup is clear. Then add all vegetable pieces in. Tun to low heat and simmer for at least 45 mins.

Don’t forget to season with salt before serving.

https://flic.kr/p/24wE2e2

I cooked for my husband when he felt a bit sick and didn’t have appetite. He finished this whole bowl of soup. Ate up all the vegetables and chicken leg.

Ribs, Soup

Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶)

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Bak kut teh is a very popular dish in Singapore. It’s kind of spice rib soup. The cooking method is not complicated but it’s a bit time consuming.

1. Wash 1 kg ribs in water. Then put them in a big pot. Add in enough water covers all ribs. Bring water to boil. Take the ribs out and rinse under water.

2. Wash the pot. Add in 1.5 L water. Bring to boil.

3. Add in 1 head of garlic (peeled or unpeeled is fine) and the spice bag. Because bak kut teh needs many herbs. So a spice bag is much more convenient and it can bought from supermarket.

4. Also put in all the ribs. Simmer for at least 1 hour.

5. Add in 1 tablespoon light soy sauce before serving.

My husband loves it.

Soup

White Fungus, Red Date, Lotus Seed & Barley Soup

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Yeah, it’s quite a long name. 🙂

Strictly speaking, this soup should belong to dessert, since it’s a sweet soup not a savory soup.

Main ingredients are white fungus (soak in the water first till completely softened and remove the yellow bottom), red dates (remove the core), barley (wash clean), lotus seeds (remove the green sprouts in the middle if there is any to avoid bitter taste) and wolf berries.

Put all ingredients in a pot. Here I used a rice cooker. Add in enough water.

Also add in several sugar cubes according to your preference.

I chose “soup” function on the rice cooker. And it cooked for approximately 3 hours. If you use normal pot on stove. You can bring to boil with high heat first, then simmer with low heat for 1.5 hours.

Soup is nice. Because it contains red dates and white fungus, it is also called beauty soup.

https://flic.kr/p/24wD7Rr

My husband loves it.

https://flic.kr/p/2e3euHu

Ribs, Soup, Uncategorized

My Husband’s Favorite Rib, Lotus Root & Peanut Soup Recipe

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I was born and grew up in northern part of China. Actually, my family didn’t have the habit of having soup during the meal. I know that people from southern part really like soup. Soup to them is a must-have dish on the table.

My husband is a soup lover. He basically likes all kinds of soup. Influenced by him, I start to realize soup’s charm.

There is a chicken rice stall near where we live. If you order chicken rice there, a small bowl of lotus root & peanut soup will be served as well. My husband loves the chicken rice there and also their soup. He mentioned more than once how much he loves the soup with lotus root and peanut in it.

That’s why I decided to cook this soup.

1. Rinse ribs under water.

2. Place all ribs in the pot. Pour in enough water covers and even higher than the ribs.

3. Bring to boil with high heat. Skim the soup.

4. Add in several ginger slices, lotus root chunks, some peanuts. Turn to low heat. Cook for 1-2 hrs.

Nice soup takes long time unless you have pressure cooker.

Season with salt before serving.

The amazing part of the soup is that it tastes a bit sweet even without adding in any sugar.

My husband can have 2 bowls of it.

https://flic.kr/p/2b3tQxq