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Wai San, Carrot & Red Date Soup

This is a soup that I made one day while trying to clear up leftover vegetables in the fridge.

I had half a carrot and some fresh wai san. So I made this soup which I think tastes infinitely better than plain old wai san with pork ribs. 

Carrots in soups make soups taste a lot "sweeter". 

fresh shan yao and carrot


For this soup, you will need:

1/2 carrot, cut into chunks
Fresh wai san, peeled and sliced
2 dried red dates, pitted

300gm of blanched pork bones
1 liter water

Bring water in a pot to boil and add in all the ingredients. Boil on high heat for 10 minutes before putting the lid on your pot. Reduce fire to a mere simmer. Simmer soup for 2 hours. Add salt to taste.

You must let your soup "sit" and have the flavours develop once your soup is ready. I noticed that if I immediately serve the soup, it won't taste as good.

Let it "sit" for 30 minutes or so before serving. The soup is flavourful and of course you must eat up the carrot and wai san - they're good for you! 

wai san, carrot and red dates


Speaking of red dates, I recently managed to buy some huge dried red dates. They're about 4 times larger than most dried red dates and costs three times as much. I got these from my regular market where the herbalist recommended these to me. It is said that three dried red dates a day keeps one healthy with a promise of long life! 

chinese red dates


This packet of dried red dates cost me RM26. Below I compare the red date with a regular lime. See how large the red date is? 

comparing a lime to a dried red date



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