Posted by Patrick.C
It is always good to have a bowl of slow cooked soup for body rejuvenating and reinvigorating after a worn-out week. Weekend is normally the best time for me to boil soup especially slow cooked soup. It requires several hours (at least 3 hours) for simmer. Dried bok choy soup (菜干湯) was what I’ve boiled last weekend. This homespun soup was one of my favorites back in Malaysia.
Back in ancient times, bok choy was dehydrated for preservation until the next harvest but nowadays you can easily get the fresh boy choy all year round. Besides, you do not need to dehydrate the bok choy because packages of dried bok choy can be easily in most Asian markets. Some of the packages of dried bok choy are labeled as “dehydrated cole”.
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Posted by Patrick.C
Lotus root soup is one of the famous slow-cooked soups to be served in the Chinese New Year eve’s reunion dinner for most Cantonese families. It is named jia ou tian cheng (佳藕天成) in Chinese, which literally means a pair of couple is born to be married with each other. The Chinese singles believe will have a good marriage in the coming year by consuming this soup.
Since I just made the lotus root soup recently, I didn’t want to have the same thing again for the weekend. So I looked out for something new to try out and finally what came across my mind was one of my favorite soups that I usually have when I dine at a local authentic Taiwanese restaurant. It is the American ginseng chicken soup (花旗參雞湯), an herb soup with slightly bitter flavor but it is definitely delicious and health benefits.
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Posted by Patrick.C
I have been eating a lot since the holiday season and last week I just wanted to have something simple and light for the next few days. Making a soup would be a great idea since I love soup. Having one big bowl of soup would be satisfying and replacing as my regular meals. Thus, I was able to cut down my appetite.
As usual, slow-cooked soup (老火湯) was what in my mind and this time I’ve prepared the lotus root soup (莲藕湯). Lotus root is the root portion of the lotus plant and it is believed to be rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C. So far, I only know how to use it for soup making and stir-frying.
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Posted by Patrick.C
I had been craving for wonton soup the whole Christmas week due to the cold weather and too much western food I had taken for the past 2 weeks. Hence I thought of heading to one of the local Chinese restaurants to fulfill my longing over the weekend. Apropos of this wonton thing, I told my mom over the phone and guess what? She suggested me to make the wonton soup myself. She is right. I should give it a shot since so far I haven’t yet found a satisfactory one in Los Angeles.
There are various types of wonton and what I love the most is the Cantonese shrimp filled wonton but this time, I decided to make the wonton with filling of minced pork meat and shrimp. Fresh shrimp must be used instead of pre-cooked shrimps to make the wonton. I know most of you might dislike is the process of peeling and deveining the shrimps because it makes your hands stink but bear with it.
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Posted by Patrick.C
The Cantonese watercress soup (西洋菜湯) is one of my favorite slow-cooked soups that I grew up with. Slow-cooked soup, or lo for tong (老火湯) is a Cantonese specialty which is a broth produced by simmering meats, bones, vegetables and other ingredients for 3 to 6 hours. Essentially, most of the Chinese soups are great for health benefits and the watercress soup is good for releasing heat in our bodies and clearing sputum in our lungs.
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