The Soup Queen

This isn't a slow simmered soup that takes 2 hours on the stove. No.  This is a quick 20 minutes soup that you can make on days when you want something nourishing and you just got home from work and you're too damn tired to call for take-out.  This is my go-to soup that's nutritious and flavourful. Packed with only 3 good ingredients - tofu, bittergourd and minced pork.  You can even just cook some rice (in the rice cooker) while you make this soup. Once the rice is done, so's your tofu soup.  Here's how you do it.  1 packet of soft tofu, cut into cubes 1/2 cup minced pork/chicken - marinate with some salt, pepper, cornstarch and sesame oil  1/2 bittergourd, sliced thinly* some chopped garlic spring onions to garnish salt & pepper to taste 800 ml water  Heat up some 2 tablespoons oil in a pot. Add garlic. Stir until it browns. Add water. Cover and bring it to a boil. Once it is boiling, drop t...

This is a soup good for warming up on cold days. We don't get very many cold days in Malaysia. I was in Hong Kong in March and at 14C, it felt quite cold to me. If I were in HK, I'd make this warming soup! You'll need: 1 slice ginger 1 clove garlic, minced 3 cups fresh tomatoes, blanched, de-skinned and cubed 2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed 4 cups water 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp oil 6 oz ground beef Marinate ground beef with: 1 tsp oyster sauce 1 tsp light soya sauce 3/4 tsp sugar 1/2 salt 1/2 tsp whiskey 3/4 tsp cornstarch Allow the ground beef to marinate up to 1 hour. Heat wok and add oil, salt, ginger and garlic. Add tomatoes and potatoes and fry for 1 minute. Remove and place this into a pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover pot, simmering over low heat for 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Raise heat and add the beef with its marinade, breaking up beef with fork. Boil the soup again and turn off heat. Serve hot.

I got this recipe from an old recipe book. It's a Cantonese soup called "Sang Choi Yue Pin Tong". According to the writer, she uses fresh carp but it's equally OK to use sole, flounder or sea bass. 1/2 pound fresh fish, sliced thinly Marinate fish with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/4 tsp cornstarch, 1 tsp ginger juice mixed with 1 tsp white wine, some pepper and 1 tsp light soya sauce. Let it sit in the marinade for 10 minutes. In a pot, bring to boil 3 cups water. If you have fish stock, even better. It will be tastier, says the writer. Add to this pot 1 slice of ginger and 1 clove garlic. Add lettuce, stir and add in fish slices (together with marinade). Bring to boil. Turn off heat and stir in some scallion oil. Serve hot. How to make scallion oil: In 2 cups peanut oil, add 1 cup of the whisker/root ends of scallions and 2 cups of scallions (spring onions). Heat wok. Pour this into wok and heat until scallions brown. Strain oil and discard scalli...

I was clearing off some old files of mine when I found this recipe! I have not tried it yet but I think it should be a delicious soup, as chicken and kei chi/medlar seeds/wolfberries lend a sweetness to the soup. Plus garlic too - I am a big user of garlic and I think this magic bulb does wonders to anything, be it soup or stew. If you do try it, let me know how it tastes like. This is a quick soup which can be ready in 30 minutes. Chicken Garlic Kei Chi Soup Ingredient 2 chicken thighs (400g) 100g garlic (peeled) 25g kei chi (wolfberries) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp soya sauce 1/2 tsp white pepper 1 Tbsp oil 1.2 litres boiling water 1 Tbsp chopped Chinese parsley Method 1. Remove excess fat from the chicken thighs, wash and pat dry with kitchen paper. Cut each thigh into four pieces. 2. Heat the wok with the oil, add garlic, stir-fry for a minute and add chicken and white pepper. Continue to stir-fry for 3 minutes. 3. Lastly add boiling water, kei chi, salt and soya sauce, cover and boil on medi...