The Soup Queen

When I've been working too hard and sitting through too many Zoom meetings and having too many online webinars, my brain gets tired and my body feels heated up! I find that screen radiation affects me a lot so I try to limit my screen time and most times, to no avail! (It doesn't help that I am in the digital space and that I need to work on stuff on my Mac all the time - from my podcast to my live streams and to my main business ).  I felt really exhausted this week as I was also rushing to complete some important content for a client. She was in the running for a major award and needed help to brush up on her submission profile. The thing with submission profiles is that there's always a pressing deadline! And limited words is another. Most people think it's easy to write 250 words than 1000 words but trust me, it is much harder to be concise than to be long-winded.  So work being work, and life being life, a lot of things can stress up the body.  When I sit too lon...

  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...

If you read this blog long enough, you know I love convenience. Maybe because I am lazy. I like to think that I like shortcuts to health. Anyway, for the past 4 months I have been taking this product that I feel has been doing me good, despite its hefty price tag.  But first, a little introduction is in order.  It's a product from Taiwan called Bing Han Refined Ginseng Powder and it's made from panax ginseng.  Bing Han Ginseng Powder from Taiwan It is water soluble. Which means I can dissolve it in water and drink it up. In my books, it's always a good thing right? Sheer convenience.  I had heard of the miraculous things people have said about ginseng. When my late grandmother was alive, she was given Korean ginseng and her white hair started turning black!  Anyway, Chinese folks love their ginseng. It's a well-known fact. I had a friend who used to drink ginseng soups when she was pregnant. Her two children do have beautiful skin!...

I know. It sounds unbelievable right? Steamed green apple with American ginseng will cure your headaches forever? Isn't it such an audacious claim? Really? Does it work? Actually, these were my reactions too when I heard it from - of all people - my mum! As I live in Penang and my mum lives in Selangor (Banting, to be specific, which is a little town near Morib and one that's well-known for its seafood), we have regular phone conversations. These days it's much easier because calls are free - we use Viber a lot. So we have long conversations. About food. About life. Mostly food. She knows I love my food. And I like taking good care of myself. I am a hedonist. I probably learnt that from her. She's always telling me how we should all eat better. It is true though. With better nutrition, you do feel immensely better. That is why SoupQueen exists, right? ;-) Here's how the story goes. My mum often goes to the Sunday market in Banting where there's lots...

Clockwise from top: dried longan, dried lotus seeds and American ginseng slices I was wondering what kind of soup to cook this week when I saw a box of American Ginseng in the fridge. It had been sitting there for almost 2 months now. Usually I will use pre-packed herbs for soups but this time around, none were to be found. So American Ginseng it is. American Ginseng, unlike its cousin, Korean Ginseng, is the best kind of ginseng to brew and drink as it is not cooling nor heaty. Korean Ginseng is very heaty - it is a tonic after all. My 90 year old Grandmother consumes Korean Ginseng to give her strength and warm up her limbs. At the same time, the Korean Ginseng is helping turn her grey hair black - I am not kidding. I saw her with partially black hair and wondered why. Did she dye her hair? My cousin then remarked that her health (and hair) started to improve eversince she started taking Korean ginseng. But if you are of the heaty type (which means you have a heated blood system), do...

This recipe is thanks to Erina who saw me having a coughing fit yesterday and recommended that I try her mother-in-law's recipe. She said her son had been coughing too and after drinking this concoction 3 times a week, he had been cured. For this cough cure, you will need some slices of American Ginseng and 3-4 dried honey dates . These go into a pot with 2 bowls of water. Simmer until only half the water remains. This could probably take 20 minutes or so. Drink warm. American Ginseng (panax quinquefolius) or Pao Sum (in Mandarin) is one of the milder ginsengs from the ginseng family. It is milder because it is yin or cooling in nature. It was first discovered by the Jesuit priests in Canada around the 18th century. This root herb was shipped in massive quantities to China - it was a valuable export in the 19th century. Hence the name American Ginseng because it really comes from America. The taste of American Ginseng is sweet and slightly bitter but is highly suitable for the Hear...