The Soup Queen

  I made American ginseng soup with pork ribs over the weekend since I had recently bought some herbs from my favourite herbalist in town, Veng Tatt Soon.  Over the past few months, we have been making watercress soup with pork ribs and I was getting rather tired of that soup! However watercress soup is great for the lungs (especially if you are coughing, or a smoker or feeling heaty) and now what with the pandemic, it is simply one of the better ways to boost one's immunity. And unlike lotus root soup , you can freeze watercress soup without any change to the watercress texture.  I usually make about 8 servings of soup in my stock pot. This means I can freeze the other portions for other days. So making soup on the weekend means I get to drink soup over the next 3 days at least.  This packet of herbs consisted of:  American ginseng (3.8gm),  Bei Zi (12gm),  Dang Shen (12gm),  Solomon Seal or Yok Chok (19gm),  Goji (12gm),  Red Dates (38...

After like a few weeks of not going to the market, I decided to go today. I have a love-hate relationship with market days. On one hand I know I am stocking up on fresh food and vegetables. On the other I know I need to clean out the fridge when I get back coz I need to make space for the new stuff that I bought. Anyway.  Today I bought pork bones to make a soup called Ming Mu Tang or literal translation, Bright Eye Soup. We Chinese aren't so subtle. If the soup makes our eyes bright/sparkling/clear, then name it such. No point beating around the bush. Pragmatic us indeed. As always, I start with blanching the pork bones in boiling water over the stove. This gets rid of the scummy stuff that floats up on your soup.  Next, I soak the herbs - they're pre-packed dried herbs from my herbalist in town. Dried herbs from China are getting more expensive these days. Damn the ringgit and damn the GST. I usually use a colander and a plastic basin...