The Soup Queen

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...

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...