The Soup Queen

This is a simple and quick soup and can be ready in 30 minutes. Yes, it is that easy. This soup does not qualify as a slow simmered soup as it needs a fast boil. Very suitable for moms who are home late and need to whip up nutritious yet fast soups. This soup needs two major ingredients - matrimony vine and wolfberry fruits. Actually they are both from the same family! Matrimony vine leaves are the leaves from the tree which bears the wolfberry fruits (lycium chinense or L.barbarum). Wolfberry or "kei chi" or "gou qi zi" is a staple in many Cantonese homes/kitchens. I used to grow up drinking soups which contained these little sweetish red berries or what my yoga teacher calls "chinese raisins". They're also known as Duke of Argyll's tea tree. I wonder why! Wolfberry fruits are usually dried, wrinkled berries which can be bought from any good Chinese medical hall or herbalist. Quality berries are large and plump, not shrivelled beyond recognition. ...

This week I made pinto bean soup because my vegetable-seller at the Lip Sin market told me that these beans were good nourishment for the back. A small packet of the pinto beans cost RM2. I didn't know the name of this bean but a quick check online using Google and Google Images search did the trick. These pinto beans are white but freckled and part of the kidney bean family. Pinto means 'painted' in Spanish which is quite accurate as the beans are white and mottled. These beans are a favourite in Mexican dishes. Similar to other beans, the pinto bean contains iron, potassium, selenium, molybdenum, thiamine, vitamin B6, and folic acid. For me, I made these beans into soup. The soup is deliciously sweet and clear. The ingredients are: 1 packet of pinto beans (available fresh from your wet market) 5-8 dried longans 5-8 dried red dates 300gm of blanched meat/ribs 1.5 liters of water Bring the water to a boil and add all ingredients into the pot. Boil furiously for 10 minutes. ...