The Soup Queen

Happy New Year to you, if you've just arrived at this blog. I call myself the Soup Queen, tongue-in-cheek style. I think this name has really stuck well. When I first got the idea for a soup blog, I was just planning on compiling soup recipes for myself. I figured, if I write them down in notebooks, I might never find them again (knowing how easy it is to lose papers and such). And I like the idea of a quick search to get my recipes. That's how the Soup Queen got started. My niche is really Chinese style soups which to the Cantonese, is a big deal. As Cantonese, we're especially proud of our elegant cuisine. Soups feature a lot in our cuisine too. A good soup is always flavourful, delicate and robust. It nourishes. It replenishes. I'm still surprised I have lots of soup recipes despite blogging for so long about soups. I guess the more one learns, the more one needs to learn. I'll try to share more this year as I was a bit slack last year due to business, moving hom...

Here are some soup recipes you can try. For all soups, remember to blanch the meat first to get rid of its oil and blood. Bring your pot of water to boil before you add the meat and herbs/vegetables. Simmer on high heat for 10 minutes (do not close the pot lid). After 10 minutes of rapid boiling, close the lid and lower heat so that your soup can simmer for 2 hours undisturbed. Lastly add salt for seasoning. Turn off heat and let soup mellow for 30 minutes before serving warm with rice. Papaya Soup Nourishes lungs and improves skin texture 1 cob sweet corn 19 gm dried white fungus, soaked and drained 1 papaya, 450 gm shin of pork, 450 gm Dang Gui Soup Expels dampness, nourishes spleen and yin 1/4 slice dried tangerine peel 19gm dang gui 12 gm fox nuts 600gm shin of pork 1 slice ginger Lotus Root Soup Promotes blood cell regeneration, whitens skins and improves skin texture 600gm shin of pork 19 gm fox nuts 57 gm dried lotus seeds 38 gm small red beans 450 ...

I've missed my soups and yes, my blog! Business has been really good so much so that work, meetings, hiring, and the whole circle of stuff has taken me away from this blog. I've had guilt pangs!I've felt terribly guilty! When work gets to me (and I get very stressed sometimes), we eat out although I can rightly say that cooking is therapy for me. When I cook, I get into this 'zone' of self-reflection and peace. I talk to myself sometimes when I cook. It actually makes me happy. But when I get home too late (sometimes past 8pm), it's sometimes too late to thaw chicken or fish so cooking gets abandoned. I tried making lots of soup and freezing it but nothing tastes like freshly made soup. When I move to our new place (which hopefully happens soon as I am practically living in an apartment full of cartons, ready for packing!), I have a brand new kitchen for more soup experimentation. Plus I get a brand new refrigerator too. So long to the old faithful clunker of a...

This is a quick variation of the wai san porridge which I make all the time. One of the reasons is that wai san porridge is a great recipe when you are strapped for time. Second of course is that wai san (I'm talking about fresh wai san in this case) is soothing for the stomach. Basically, you can find wai san (or hwai san or chinese wild yam ) in the wet market or supermarket. I've seen it sold in Tesco too sometimes. It is usually a long, brown root covered in soil. Once you peel off the brown exterior, you will find the inside white like a yam bean /jicama/ mengkuang. Be careful though when slicing the wai san. It emits goo so it gets slimy. I suggest you wash the wai san after you've peeled off the skin and start slicing as soon as you can. The usual way of getting wai san is from your herbal shop where it is in dried form. It is usually white and dehydrated. In both forms, either fresh or dried, wai san promotes urination, lowers blood pressure, lowers blood sugar, is ...

I've been busy doing clients' stuff so my blogs get a bit neglected.Sigh! Such is the life of a person who runs too many blogs. Even my soup life gets a backseat! (I have been making the same old soups again and again. My recent soup was the Sharkfin Melon Soup . Try it if you haven't done so. It's clear and sweet and just right for warm days.) But I just wanted to tell you about a brilliant initiative on bak zhang. By the way, the festival is coming right up. It's on the 5th day od the 5th lunar month. I just blogged about zhang in my other blog so bear with me while I get my life in order and get back to the groove of things again.

I got this recipe from The Family Herbal Cookbook by Cecilia Tan. It helps to soothe a heaty system.The pears used in this recipe are of the yellow round variety which when eaten fresh, are terribly juicy. This recipe needs: 2 chinese pears, peeled, halved and cored 6 to 8 dried red dates, deseeded some rock sugar 3 bowls water Put all ingredients into a pot. Simmer for 3 hours. Top up with water if water's reduced. Drink warm.

I have not been making soup much as most days I come home late from work (though work is technically my own business). Well, for one, it means that we're doing really well in terms of getting new web design projects in. The downside, I get to be home less and hence, less soup-making in the kitchen. I have been thinking of getting myself a bigger slow cooker or crockpot so I can put all the soup ingredients into the pot, switch it on and go off to the office. I can come home to a lovely, warm pot of soup. Currently I have a super tiny crockpot, inherited from my undergrad days. My dad bought it for me so I could make some soups for myself. I still have it but I only use it to boil 'ba zhen tang'. The pot is too small for making soups as it can only take 2 bowls of water. Anyway, today I made some soup. (Actually the soup is merrily simmering away even as I blog this.) Today being a Sunday and typically Sundays are days where I try to catch up on my reading at home and cook s...

Stumbled upon a good blog for Asian recipes recently. My Asian Kitchen has lots of good stuff to offer, from lovely photos of food and soups to simple recipes. I love simple recipes. This week, I'm pointing you to the Dried Scallop and Chicken Soup from My Asian Kitchen. Go on over now!

This is a chinese style pumpkin soup with a medley of vegetables such as carrot, leek and button mushroom making it truly healthy. This combination of vegetables are also good for nourishing weak lungs. You will need: 2 fairly large carrots, cut into chunks some pumpkin, cut into chunks, skin removed some leek 1/2 can button mushrooms lean pork (scald pork) 2 slices ginger Put all the above ingredients into a pot of boiling water. Boil furiously for 10 minutes. Lower heat and simmer for 2 hours. Before serving, season with salt.

If you live in Asia, you would know what the sapodilla fruit or ciku fruit looks and tastes like. It is very sweet when ripe but it is also a haven for fruit worms. Many people dislike eating this as they worry they will accidentally eat the tiny white worms too! Besides eating them as they are, you can make a pretty easy soup with the sapodilla fruit. This soup helps clear the lungs. All you need are: 4 ripe ciku, de-skinned 1 medium papaya, peeled and sliced in chunks 2 tablespoons medlar seeds or boxthorn fruit, washed 4 candied dates, wash lean pork (blanch) In a pot, bring 1.5 liters to boil. Add all the above ingredients and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Cover pot, lower heat and simmer for 2 hours. Season to taste with 2-3 teaspoons salt. Serve.

Gan Cao is a useful herb to have in your home because it is cheap yet packs a punch when it comes to health benefits. Gan Cao is known as Liquorice which is sold mostly as thinly sliced roots. It is a sweet herb with a neutral character and it is helpful for the heart, lung, spleen and stomach meridians. It is also said that Gan Cao is a life prolonging herb. How true this is I don't know but I do know that I like the smooth taste of this herb. As it benefits the heart, lung, spleen and stomach, Gan Cao therefore helps with Qi. It also stops coughing and clears heat, with an ability to detox poisons. I usually use Gan Cao by steeping one piece (cut up into 3 pieces) in my hot Chinese tea (Ti Kuan Yin or a light mellow tea). This way I can taste the mouth-lingering taste of this herb. Another way is to pop one slice of the root and chew as if you are chewing gum! Chew for 10 minutes or until you have dehydrated the root of its juices. Spit out the chewed root. (This method is great ...

This is a simple cordycep soup. Cordyceps or dong chong xia chao is also called caterpillar fungus. As a sweet and warm herb, it benefits largely the kidney and lung. That's why this soup is great for nourishing the lung and strengthening kidney and of course, helps with people who suffer from coughs. For this soup, I bought a ready packet of premix herbs from the herbalist for RM4. Inside the packet were dried cordyceps, red dates, medlar seeds, yuk chuk/solomon's seal and Dan Shen (chinese sage). As usual, bring a pot of water to boil. Again this is roughly 6 fairly large bowls of water or 1.5 liters. When boiling, add blanched pork or chicken together with the herbs and boil on high for 10 minutes, uncovered. Then cover the pot tightly and lower fire completely to a mere bubble and let it simmer for 2 hours. Season to taste after 2 hours with 2 teaspoons good quality salt (I use Himalayan salt). Let it rest for 30 minutes before serving warm. This is a deliciously nourishing...

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...