Winter Melon Soup/Toong Kua Tong

This summer has been hot, so this is a common summer soup to relieve heatiness and cool down the body. My maternal grandma - Ah Poh is Cantonese, so drinking soup is important to my cantonese part in me.  My Ah Poh does not know how to even boil a pot of water, she had a 'Mui chai' who came along with her when she got married.  I later found out that  was why i had 2 'Tai Yee Mah' cos Ah Poh had considered her as her daughter.  Although Ah Poh did not know how to cook, she was an expert in criticising all foods served.  She had been branded with the saying - 'Hue Than mng hue cheong".  I remembered that she reminded my mother that a little piece of 'Tai Tau Choy' had to be added to Winter Melon Soup to enhance the flavor of the soup.  There are a variety of additions you can add to make this soup flavourful and unique and 'Tai Tau Choy' is a must for me.

Ingredients:

1 slice Winter melon (based on the diameter of 8″ and thickness 2″)

1 lb Pork ribs

8-10 pcs Red dates - pitted

5 or 6 dried shitake mushrroms - soak

1 piece  tai tau choy - soak and wash away the salt

3-5 pcs Dried oysters/dried scallops/dried octupus/dried squid - soak

Salt to taste

Method:

Put pork ribs in the pressure cooker and put in enough water to cover the ribs.  Bring it to the boil and conitinue to boil until all the scums rise to the surface.  Remove all the ribs and wash away all the scums.  Discard the water in the pressure cooker and wash preassure cooker really well.

Cut winter melon into small cubes of 1″ (remove seeds and skin)

Put cleaned ribs back to the pressure cooker together with the rest of the ingredients except the salt.  Put in the water that mushrooms and dried octupus were soaked.  Top up with more water until it is enough to cover the ingredients.  Close the lid of the pressure cooker and pressurized for 30 - 45 minutes, counting from the time the pressure cooker starts hissing.

Turn off heat when cooking time is over and let the pressure released by itself before opening the lid.

Taste the soup before adding salt as tai tau choy can be very salty.

Enjoy

Serves

A Maize-ing Soup

Maize  was or is the term used  for Corn in the United Kingdom and Ireland and since Malaysia was colonised by the British, maize it was to me for the longest ever, until there came Sweet Corn in the Malaysian markets.  I did not realised that Maize and Corn are the same becauce the difference in taste and texture were totally different,  the maize was woody, starchy and it took a lot of mouth grinding to finish a cob, while the sweet corn needed no introduction espeicially when we are here in sweet corn Heaven.   In Chinese Medicine, corn and celery are used as a stomach tonic, carrot and tomato promote  digestion, lastly the humble potato heals inflammations and is used as an energy tonic.  With these goodness in a soup, what can go wrong? 

Ingredients:

2 ears of fresh corn - cut into 1 1/2 inch slices
3 large tomatoes - quartered
2 stalk celery - cut into 1 inch lengths
2 carrots - peeled and cut into 1 inch lengths
2 potatoes - peeled and cut into halfs
2 lbs pork spareribs/neck bones
Salt to taste









Method:

In the pressure cooker, put the pork bones in and enough water to cover the bones.  Bring to high boil and let boil until most of the scum is floating on top of the water.  Turn off heat and pour the contents through a colander.  Wash the bones thoroughly with cold tap water until all scums are removed. Wash the pressure cooker well, removing scum and fat that are stuck to the pot.

Put bones back into the clean pressure cooker and add in the corn, tomatoes and wai san with enough water the cover ingredients.  Make sure that the water level is not more than 2/3 full - pressure needs to be built with space.  Pressurized for 30 minutes and turn off heat, allowing the soup to continue to cook in the pressure.  Remove lid only when the pressure is totally off and add salt to taste.   If you are in a hurry for dinner, put pressure cooker under the tap and run the cold water over the lid of the pressure cooker,  this should bring the pressure down fast and you can soup on the table as soon as salt is added to taste.

Serves

Vietnamese Food : Bun Rieu

This is my version of Bun Rieu, it might not be authentic Vietnamese but it did taste fantastic. This soup is Alexander's favorite and he called it = The Red Soup. I learned this recipe from my friend, Lan who has opened my door to Vietnamese Cuisine.

Ingredients:

One 14 oz can of crab meat paste in spices
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup of crab meat or chopped shrimp
1 lb of ground pork
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp of ground pepper

1 yellow/white onion -chopped

4 ripe tomatoes - diced

3 liters pork/chicken stock

1 box 14 oz firm tofu - cut into bite sizes and shallow fried until crispy

1 tbsp tomato paste/puree
1 tbsp fine shrimp paste

1 packet of vermicelli noodles





Method:

Cook the vermicelli noodles according to manufacturer's instructions and set aside.

Heat 3 tbsp cooking oil in a large pot and add in the diced onions. Sweat the onions and add in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste/puree. Saute until fragrant, add in pork/chicken stock, fried tofu and bring to boil.

Combine ground pork, crab/chopped shrimp, can of crab meat in spices,fine shrimp paste, fish sauce,pepper, and sugar. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

When the stock comes to a boil, slowly add this crab mixture into stock in spoonfuls, do not disturb the soup and let the stock cme back to the boil and continue to simmer - pork/crab/shrimp balls will float when they are cooked through.

Adjust stock with salt or fish sauce.

Serve this soup with cooked vermicilli noodles and fresh garnishes.

Bun Rieu is usually served with plenty of fresh herbs and veggies.

Common accompaniments include:

chopped green onion
cilantro
perilla
mint
lime wedges
bean sprouts
split ong choy/kang kung/rau muong stems
Shredded cabbage
Fine shrimp paste

Serves

Hot Beef Soup with Tamarind

This soup from timor in eastern Indonesia has a wodersweet-sour edge to it

Ingredients:
8 cups (2 liters) water
2 lbs (1 kg) top round or sweeting beef
3 tablespoons oil
5 shallots, peeled
1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste (trasi), dry roasted
2 tablespoons shaved palm sugar or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon sweet Indonesian soy sauce (kecap manis)
2 tablespoon tamarind juice
1 teaspoons salt
2 to 3 red finger-length chilies, deseeded and sliced into strips
2 spring onions, cut into short lengths


Cooking Direction:

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the beef, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the meat is half cooked, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Remove the beef from the stock and drain. Strain and reserve the stock
2. When cool enough to handle, cut the beef into cubes. Heat 2 tablespoons, of the oil over medium heat in a skillet and pan-fry the beef until cooked, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside
3. Grind the shallots, garlic, dried shrimp paste and sugar to a smooth paste in a mortar or blender, adding a little water if necessary to keep the mixture turning. Set aside
4. Heat the remaining oil in a wok over medium heat and stir-fry the ground paste until fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes, add the beef cubes and sweet Indonesian paste, until the beef Is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Adjust the taste with more salt or tamarind juice as desired, stri in the sliced chilies and spring onions, and remove from the heat. Serve hot.

source: Authentic Food Recipes from Indonesia, Heinz Von Helzen and Lother Arsana

Sweet and bitter almond with Kat Paeng

There are two forms of the plant, one (often with white flowers) producing sweet almonds, and the other (often with pink flowers) producing bitter almonds. The kernel of the former contains a fixed oil and emulsion. Bitter almond (Pak Hung) should not be confused with "sweet almond." Sweet almond seeds do not contain amygdalin and can be eaten, whereas bitter almonds can be toxic. The poisonous hydrocyanic acid contained in bitter almonds breaks down when heated, so the poison is unlikely to accumulate when used in any cooked dish. It is unwise to eat raw bitter almonds. Serious almond poisoning is rare in adults, but children may die after eating just a few bitter almonds.

China sweet almond (Lum Hung) is tested, it's physical item and chemical essential are same as American almond. Just their appearance shapes are different.

This sweet soup is recommended to relieve a bad cough.

Ingredients:

a handful of sweet almonds (Lum Hung)

10 pieces of bitter almonds (Pak Hung)

1 piece Kat Paeng

1 tiny piece of rock sugar

500 ml water

Method:

Pound the almonds slightly

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring it to the boil.

Lower the heat and simmer until the kat paeng is soft.

Discard the kat paeng and take the drink with the almonds warm.

Serves