Ahhhhhh smell the crisp cool air! Gone were the summer days, sweat filled, sun kissed scent on our skin. Summer dresses & flip flops take a back seat. Scarves & cozy sweaters begin to colour our dressers & closet. My beloved ceramic pot now holds a permanent space on the stove.
The crisp chilly air that now surrounds us, creeps through underneath window sills requires some major defense. Food. Comfort food to be more specific. Soups & Stews. Food that warms up our system and keeps the old man winter at bay. It's around this time, that I welcome & embrace my ethnicity. I wrap myself cozy with my favorite chinese cartoons PJs and robe, protect my toes with my very dependable cozy 'kuma kuma' slippers. Ahh.... I am happy. All cozied up with my fleece friends:)
It's also right about this time, I make chinese soup once every week until old man winter disappears. Culturally, a bowl of clear soup is served with every meal. It's been said, by drinking this clear flavoured soup everyday, it will keep your body system cleansed & strong, maintain youthful skin making you forever young and beautiful.
Generally, some sort of animal parts; mainly bones, dried chinese herbs and vegetables are simmered for 2-3hrs to extract all the flavours, leaving a very nutritious & aromatic clear soup to consume. It is important to note, the dried chinese herbs I use are very friendly and will compliment well with just any chinese soup you make. I lack ancient knowledge in such complicated healing properties chinese herbs hold. So please forgive me, I hold only the basic knowledge to my own ethnicity.
In the mean time, I can only offer you humble recipes of the soups that will grace my kitchen. While I would normally tell you to replace whatever ingredients you prefer verses what I have listed, I wouldn't recommend it so much with chinese soups. A single change of an ingredient will alter the flavour of the soup. So let's just stick with it eh?
My typical chinese dried herbs consist of the following for this soup. Click on the links to read more about the medicinal benefits of each herb.
1. Dried, pitted
Longan fruit : 3-4 piece
2.
Dried goji - approx. 1tbsp full
3.
Dried red dates : 3 piece
4.
Dried honey dates : 1 - 2 piece
4.
Dried white fungus : 1 flower
5.
Sliced dried white almond : approx 1tvsp full
6. Dried shitake mushroom : 2 piece - for depth in flavour
You can purchase these at any chinese grocer or dried herbal specialty stores.
Place all dried herbs in a bowl and rinse a couple of times. The white fungus will balloon, doubling its size. Be sure to run water through the flower, rinsing out any unwanted dirt.
Once rinsed, set aside.
For this soup, I used pork neck bones, approx. 1/2 pound. To prepare this, pre-boil the bones in a hot bath of water to remove any unwanted impurities.
See all the fatty foam on top? Pre-boiling the neck bones will remove these impurities and provide the soup and clean broth base.
Boil the bones for 4-5mins then dump in sink. Clean the pot well with soap and refill with cold water halfway. Return to stove and turn heat to medium high. Rinse each piece of bone well under cold running water and set in a bowl. And just because I had a roasted pork bone from a chinese BBQ shop in the freezer, I decided to add this to the pile of bones. This will really enhance the broth. :) These roasted yummilious bones are usually sold dirt cheap and many use it for soups and congee for the flavour.
Once meat is rinsed, throw it in the pot of water along with the cleaned herbs. Cover and allow to bring to just below boiling point then quickly lower heat to super low and allow to simmer for at least 1hr with the lid.
While the broth simmers, lets prepare the papaya and turnip.
Use the elephant papaya. When purchasing, look for a not so riped papaya, with very minimal bruising on surface. Papaya should be more green than orange looking. Rinse, cut in half and scoop out the seeds in the middle. Slice off the skin and cube to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside in a bowl.
Choose a good size turnip, a little less than forearm's length is good. Rinse and peel skin with a peeler. Discard ends and slice turnip length in 1/2 inch pieces.
Once the broth has been simmering for at least an hour, throw in papaya and turnip. Cover again and allow to simmer for 2hrs. No need to bring the heat on high when you add the vegetables as this will ruin the complexity flavouring of the soup. Simply add in the vegetables and let the constant low simmering heat penetrate and extract the flavours in the soup slowly. Your turnips will thank you for this method as it will not mush up. It will maintain a soft but crispy like texture. ;)
You will know your soup is done when the turnip takes on a slightly translucent appearance. Turn off the heat. Your broth will look quite concentrated in flavour, A beautiful, dark clear broth, full of robust flavours married together over the last 3hrs.
See?! Clear but full of flavours! even my poor iphone camera picked up the colours quite well:) I typically like drinking my soup with a spoon of rice. But that's really personal preference. So enjoy the soup however you like! With or without rice. :)
My body feels quite cleansed after two bowls of this:) Enjoy!
