The Soup Queen

Yes, people, I am still around and I have not fallen off the face of this blog. I have not been doing much soup stuff as I have been totally immersed in work from the moment we finished our Chinese New Year holidays. Yes, what recession? I have been up to my ears in work and more work. The good thing is, I'm getting the green light to hire myself an assistant writer. For the company of course. Not for this blog, unfortunately. Otherwise, soup recipes will be a daily occurrence here! But I will dig up some soup recipes this week. Actually I have been baking bread and making meatloaf and baking butter cakes but I have been so naughty in that I have not made much soup - unless you count instant tom yam soup as soup. Nope, in my books, instant tom yum soup is just that - instant soup. Not worthy of mention. I'll be back tomorrow with soup recipes. Hang in there!

I've compiled a list of my favourite Chinese New Year food and snacks over at my other blog. Do check it out! Kung Hei Fatt Choy to everyone! It's the 4th day of CNY and I'm still on a break. ;-)

I found this website by chance (don't we all sometimes stumble upon good stuff while aimlessly surfing?) Rootdown.us is a website for TCM enthusiasts. What I like most is that you can search for a herb in various ways: by meridian, by type of use, by temperature, by taste, by name (latin and non-latin) and lots more. It really is a community website because you can join and contribute what you know about TCM. Although right now it seems as if only TCM practitioners can offer tips and advice, I believe it will only be a matter of time before others start chipping in. Another section that's worth a look is the Classes section where you can learn from TCM practitioners for a fee (in US Dollars). A great concept because interest in this field is growing! The best part of all is the Acupuncture Chart which looks similar to how a Google Map works. You can learn about Meridians and AcuPoints and even embed the Acupuncture chart into your own blog or website.

If you suffer from Wind Heat, here's a dessert you can make to alleviate those symptoms (coughing, colds etc as a result of Wind and Heat). 2 fresh lily bulbs 15 dried red dates, deseeded 1 cup dried lotus seeds 1 cup fresh wai san, diced rock sugar to taste 1/4 cup mai men dong/Ophiopogon japonicus 1.5 liters water Bring water to a boil and add in mai men dong, lotus seeds and red dates. Simmer covered for 15 minutes. Then add wai san and lily bulb - simmer again for another 10 minutes. Finally add rock sugar to taste. Turn off fire and serve warm.

Been travelling up and down the past few weeks so feel kind of guilty that no soup recipes are forthcoming! I have a few drafts but no nice photos so I thought I'd skip that and do a post on 'tempeh'. To say that I love tempeh (fermented soya bean cake) is an understatement. I love it. I love it because it has a nutty texture with a good bite and lots of goodness too. Soya beans are much adored in Chinese cuisine but this Indonesian/Malay fermented soya bean cake is something most Chinese don't buy - which is unfortunate because it's easy to prepare. Tempeh is sold in supermarkets and wet markets - either wrapped in traditional banana leaves and newspaper or in plastic. If wrapped in plastic, you can see the mossy growth on the soya bean which can turn off some people. Tempeh is one of the most nutritious and cheapest sources of protein you can get. It is the kind of food you can buy for RM1 per packet. But how do you eat tempeh? I slice the tempeh as thinly as I c...

This is a new recipe I learnt from my aunt just this week. I had had this dessert twice already when I visited her. She's a wizard in the kitchen, this aunt of mine. She is a cheesecake maestro too. For this dessert, you'll need: Dried beancurd sticks (ask your grocer for the type that makes desserts, not the cooking type) - wash and soak in water for 20 minutes A handful of barley (washed/rinsed) 1/2 cup peeled fresh gingko nuts (or get the ready peeled version at your local supermarket) rock sugar to taste 1.5 liter water In a pot, bring water to boil. Add soaked beancurd sticks ('fu chuk' in Cantonese). Boil for 20 minutes on low. Cover pot. Add gingko nuts, barley and rock sugar. Boil for another 15 minutes. The beancurd stick should have melted into the water by now. Turn off fire and serve warm. It should look like a milky liquid with barley and gingko nuts. A great cooling dessert and of course makes your skin smooth and beautiful! You know me, I love anything th...

This is a soup I made today while digging about my fridge. I found some corn on the cob, some lotus root, a handful of soyabeans and half a carrot. I decided to make it a full vegetarian soup because I knew soya beans would provide the sweetness desired, in fact, carrot and lotus and corn already are 'sweet' vegetables. So I put them all together in a pot of water and brought the whole thing to a boil. Put on the lid and turned down the heat so the soup was just simmering. Simmer for 2 hours and season with salt and pepper. How did it taste? Very light, very sweet and very clear on the palate. The type of soup that one should drink in this scorching heat. Penang is very hot in the day time and I can feel the heat so here's more reason to drink soup. Also, when the day heats up and I don't feel like taking much food, soup comes to the rescue. Try this soup and let me know how it goes. For variation, you can add some chicken thighs to the soup (but do remove the chicken ...

I love porridge because it's so easy to cook. All you need is a rice cooker and the porridge can happily cook itself while you go about doing other things - like updating one's blog. ;-) Because porridge is so versatile, you can make plain porridge which goes well with fried crunchy anchovies, fried peanuts, choy poh (Chinese salted vegetables) or you can make fish porridge (basic porridge with the addition of fresh fish slices) or you can make pork porridge. For pork porridge, you need: 1/2 cup minced pork (marinate with pepper, salt, soya sauce and 1 tsp cornflour for 10 minutes in the fridge) 1 cup rice, washed and drained (1 cup rice serves 2 people, so double up if you have more mouths to feed) The ratio of rice to water is 1:4. The water should be at least 3 inches above the rice level when it's in the rice cooker pot. When cooking porridge, do not close the rice cooker lid tightly. Slant it at an angle or you will have a mess of gruel to clean up after! Plus your por...

I'm going to link you to a deliciously simple seaweed soup by Patrica because her version is absolutely yummy! And so easy to prepare. Head on over to her blog and try it out. Besides that, she has other equally fun and easy recipes too. Check them all out! I shall be back with regular blogging in the next 2 days... In case you wanna know my versions, it's the 3-minute soup here and kelp soup here .

This has to be one of the simplest recipes ever (besides my grandmother's soya sauce chicken, of course ). You marinate the chicken wings overnight in the fridge and next day, pour them into a pot, add 300 ml of water and simmer until cooked, probably 20 minutes or so. For this chicken recipe, you need: 8 chicken wings, drummets included 1 tbsp dark soya sauce 2 tbsp light soya sauce 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1 tsp sesame seed oil 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 tbsp sugar Now mix the above and put into an airtight container. Leave to marinate in fridge (not freezer) overnight or 12 hours. Next day or 12 hours later, pour chicken together with marinade into a wok and pour in 300ml water. Bring to a fast boil. Cover tight and simmer 15 minutes. Simmer another 5 minutes with wok uncovered. This dish is not supposed to drown in gravy so let the water evaporate until you have a little bit gravy left. Serve hot with plain rice. Simple, easy and tasty! This got the thumbs-up from my husb...

I got this recipe from Amy Beh but I have yet to try it. I couldn't get my hands on any fresh aloe vera! Back home in Banting, I have a huge overgrown pot of aloe vera but here, I don't. I am waiting to get some from my aunt one of these days so I can try this soup. Aloe vera helps remove heat from the liver, and relaxes the bowels. So this soup is good for those suffering from constipation. If used externally, the aloe gel helps those with skin problems like eczema and ringworm. I often use the gel on my face and arms after a long hot day out or if I accidentally scald myself with hot water! Aloe can be also used as a cooling drink with the aloe gel cut up into cubes. They're chewably delicious! For this soup, you need: 3 plump aloe vera leaves half a chicken, chopped into chunky parts 15 white peppercorns, lightly crushed 3 red dates, stones removed 1.2 liter water salt Wash the aloe and peel off skin. Cut the white jelly parts into thick slices. Boil chicken, peppercorn...

I love eating eggplant or brinjal but Nic is not to keen on it. He likes it in curries but not cooked plain. When I do buy brinjal, I have a favourite way of cooking it. With minced pork. I can get this dish ready in less than 10 minutes because it's simple and delicious. The crunchiness of deep fried brinjal with the spicy minced pork - out of this world. For this recipe, you need: 1 medium length brinjal (about a foot long) 1/2 cup minced pork, marinated with some cornflour and soya sauce (leave aside for 5 minutes) fresh ginger, about 2 slices, minced fine fresh garlic, 1 clove, minced fine 2 tbsp Thai chilli sauce (from bottle, I use Mae Pranom brand) 1 tbsp dark soya sauce some salt, pepper, sugar and soya sauce to taste red chillies, sliced, optional - if you like to spice it up more First, wash and cut brinjal into diagonal slices. Sprinkle some salt over to draw out water. Leave aside for a while. Next, make a batter from self raising flour and rice flour (2:1 ratio) with a...

I went looking on the Net for the herbs that are used in the cough syrup King To Nin Jiom Pei Pa Kao and found these which I have compiled below. Each one works to alleviate cough, phlegm and all manner of lung problems. I got the info from this website: http://www.fzrm.com/plantextract.htm in case you want to go on your own TCM herb hunting adventure or find out what those Latin terms actually mean. Fourleaf Ladybell Root or Nan Sha Shen nourishes yin and removes heat from the lung, resolves phlegm, and reinforces qi. Suitable if you have heat in the lung with dry cough; cough with scanty sticky sputum; or deficiency of both qi and yin with feverishness and thirst. Bulbus Fritillaria Cirrhosa or Chuan Bei Mu removes heat, moistens the lung, resolves phlegm and relieves cough. Good for those with dry cough due to heat in the lung; cough with bloody sputum in consumptive diseases. Folium Eriobotrya Japonica or Loquat Leaf removes heat from the lung and the stomach, and relieves cou...

I still have a bloody phlegmy cough. Despite eating everything I think is good for curing a cough. So as a last resort, I turned to a favourite cough remedy - King To Nin Jiom Pei Pa Kao! I had a bottle stashed in my kitchen so I thought, might as well take that and see if my cough can be cured. The funny thing was, it has expired in 2007. But what the heck. It's just cough syrup, right? Won't die anyway. So being highly practical, I took whatever's left of this remedy. (I'm Cantonese. We're a highly practical people. That's probably why we can survive anywhere. I grew up with lots of pragmatic advice from mom and grandma.) For those of you who don't know what King To Nin Jiom is, it's a thick, gooey, honey-like syrup masquerading as cough syrup. It's a traditional Chinese preparation so it's lovely and sweet, much like honey. It's not like those yucky cherry-flavoured cough syrups doctors give. Not at all. (By the way, I hate those.) This sy...

I bought fresh peppermint at the market today. I usually don't fancy peppermint but I thought with my flu and scratchy throat, peppermint soup sounds real good. The peppermint was RM1 one bunch. When I came home, I just plucked the leaves and soaked them. Ditch the stems. Next I marinated some fresh minced pork - about 1/3 cup of minced pork. You can use chicken if you want. Marinate with some salt, pepper and cornflour. The cornflour makes a world of difference. The minced meat will be smoother!Put this aside in the fridge for 10 minutes. Bring a pot of water to boil. Since I was only making this soup for lunch and dinner, I measured out 4 medium bowls of water. Once water is boiling away merrily, drop in the minced meat - form them into tiny balls of meat. I like mine like the size of marbles. I also put into 3 cloves of garlic, with skin attached. This flavours the soup a bit. Next, add your rinsed and drained peppermint leaves. Let the soup simmer for 5 minutes on medium fire b...

Not that I am major doubter in his basic bread recipe... it's more like I doubt my bread kneading skills. But I armed myself with complete knowledge before I plunged into breadmaking again yesterday, despite the awful headache I was having. Despite my flu and sneezing 20 times! Still, I had to throw out cups of yeast in lukewarm water because silly me, I wasn't patient enough to let the yeast bubble and ferment. Finally it dawned on me that the yeast was alive but a bit slow in 'waking up'. 4 lukewarm cups of water + yeast + honey later, I realize this. Bah. Anyway, the basic bread recipe is simple and yes, I finally have 94% of what resembles bread. I cannot say 100% because Nic says it needs some 10 minutes more in the oven but excited old me took it out at 30 minutes and it was slightly, just slightly underdone. But it was bread. It looked like bread, it tasted chewy and lovely. It was BREAD. Thank you Cosmic Universe! So the recipe is super simple. Make the yeast co...

This blog may be about soup but sometimes, I come across other types of niche food blogs too and thought you might like to know! Recently, a friend found me on my other blog . He apparently is into bread-making (like me, but my first few attempts sucked) and he seems to be a maestro at it, looking at the number of bread recipes and modified recipes he has at his blog. I know I am the soup queen (please take it with a pinch of salt) but he is definitely a bread king. He makes his own bread so that his wife (who has a thyroid condition) need not eat commercial bread which as you know is full of preservatives and stuff even my cat won't eat. (Do you know that a piece of commercial bread can stay fresh and unmoldy up to a week or more?!) As I am bread newbie, I can tell you I was excited on learning that he has a blog dedicated to his fascination with bread. Do hop over to BG's blog on bread baking and bread making .

Sometimes I get so tired when I get home from work (even though it is my own business but I tell you, running a business is far more exhausting than being a salaried employee! I've been on both ends so I know that as an employee, you can 'shut off' the moment you get home. As a business person, I'm thinking of work even when I'm on the throne!) So what's a girl to do when she comes home tired and yet wants to cook something homemade for the man in her life? Ah yes, I can be traditional in some ways. I think the less I eat out the better. I always have some beancurd or tofu in my fridge for those emergency dinner moments. I prefer the silken tofu in a box which you can easily buy at any supermarket for RM1 per box. 1 box of tofu is good enough for 2 persons. To prepare this steamed tofu (which takes less than 10 minutes to cook), just open up the plastic casing and put the tofu on a plate. Steam this over high heat for 5 minutes. The tofu will 'sweat' som...

I first had this soup when I was at my Mom-in-law's back in Kuching a few months ago. I really love beans so I decided to recreate this soup here in Penang. I noted that my mom-in-law used a variety of beans in her soup plus some chicken carcasses. I was thinking of buying a handful of each type of beans but thought better of it! It would be such a waste if my own concoction didn't turn out right or taste right. So I turned to Green Love's Multi Bean Soup Mix which had 5 types of beans in one packet (RM4.80 for a 250 gm packet). The beans were chick peas, kidney beans, borlotti beans, large lima beans and Great Northern Beans. This bean premix pack can make a savoury or sweet soup. I made a savoury soup with blanched pork bones which was delectable. I love beans in all manner so this was really comfort food. Here's how you make a Five Bean Soup (makes 6 serving bowls of soup). 125 gm of beans from Green Love's Multi Bean Soup Mix 300 gm blanched pork bones 1 tbsp m...

This is yet another recipe I picked up from TV. You see, you can learn from TV if you choose your TV programmes well. Black sesame with milk is a drink recommended for people who are constipated. Black sesame seeds are used to tonify yin, jing and blood and most importantly, moisten the intestines. Hence its usefulness in helping to move the bowels. (It's associated with Kidney and Liver meridians.) Other than that, Chinese love the black sesame because it can keep your hair glossy and black. A sweet, thick dessert made from ground black sesame seeds is often served in good Chinese restaurants. In fact, black sesame seeds are good for improving memory and preventing Alzheimers. Here's how you can prepare this beverage: Warm up some 400 cc of fresh milk. Add 1 teaspoon of black sesame seed powder. Mix well. Add honey to taste. Also if you wish, you can add in some medlar seeds (pre-soaked in hot water to soften). Drink warm.