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The Chinese Arrowroot Soup (粉葛湯), many people may not have heard of or taste of arrowroot or the soup. The Arrowroot is a type of root plant similar to yucca, taro or potato root plants. So you can find it in the produce sections with the potato, yucca or taro. However the arrowroot is harder in texture and it is extensively starchy than potato. When it is cut up, it has patterns on surface that looks like the ages of a tree trunk.

The arrowroot is high in protein and fiber which is very beneficial to our body. Since the arrowroot is very fulfilling, sometimes we will make good old pot of soup as substitution of our meals as well. I like to drink the soup more than eating the arrowroot actually as the soup is really sweet and tasty. We cook the soup by adding in seafood ingredients such as dried oysters and dried squids, this makes the soup so refreshing sweet with the natural sweetness from dried seafood. You can omit if you don’t like seafood, just add in more pork ribs or pork bones.

For more information of arrowroot, search in wikipedia.

Ingredients:

1 medium Arrowroot (remove skin, cut into small pieces or slices)
1/2 lb pork ribs
1/2 lb pork loins
3 piece dried squids (soaked, cut into small pieces)
6 piece dried oysters
1 cup of peanuts (optional)
10 dried red dates
Salt to taste

Cooking Method:

1. Blanch the pork ribs and loins in boiling water to remove any debris, rinse in cool running water.
2. Bring a medium pot of water to boil, add the peanuts, pork ribs and pork loins into water.
3. Add in dried squids, dried oysters and arrowroot pieces, bring to boil and cook for 5-10 minutes.
4. Turn heat to low and simmer the soup for at least 1 1/2 – 2 hours till the arrowroot is edible, peanuts and pork are tender.
5. Add salt to taste.

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I was looking for some easy recipes that don’t require a lot of efforts and works, maybe even some magical spells will make the food ready by itself in no time. Enough of imagination. The truth is it’s summer and fun time, I just got lazy to cook :p.  But I found some recipes that would help out — steaming using a rice cooker or on the stove.  Bah, this is just an easy way to cook the food and you can be off to do your stuff. In fact there are many recipes that can be cooked by using the rice cooker, which it is an efficient cooking style for more nutritious and healthy meals.

Steamed tofu with pork ribs provides you an excellent source of calcium and protein. Plus steaming makes it less oily and super fresh, the sweet broth absorbs the nature juiciness from the pork.  You can steam it with your rice cooker, or on stove top. Preferably for 30 up to 40 minutes, then the pork ribs will be much softer and tender.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb cut Pork Ribs
1 pack Soft Tofu
1 red chili (chopped)
1 green chili (optional)
3 slices ginger (minced)
3 clove garlic (minced)
1 stalk Green onion (chopped)

For the Seasoning:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

Cooking Method:

1. Rinse the pork ribs, drained, slightly wipe it with paper towel to dry. (This is to let the pork ribs marinate more flavorful)
2. Marinate the pork ribs with seasoning of soy sauce, rice wine, salt, sugar and cornstarch, up to 1 hour.
3. Cut the soft tofu (not silk) into 1″ cube, lay it on a platter.
4. Top with chopped garlic, ginger, green or red chilies.
5. Put 2 cups of water into a rice cooker and steam till it is “cooked”, let it rest or warm fbefore serving. Alternatively, steam on stove top on medium high heat for 30-40 minutes preferably till pork ribs are cooked and tender.
6. Garnish on top with chopped green onions and some remaining red chilies.

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Not everyone likes the bitter melon (苦瓜). It is a bitter fruit that I used to loathe in childhood. Seriously, I would skip having it every time when it was served in any dishes. My taste buds changed when I grew up. The pork and bitter melon stew is now one of my favorite family dishes, which I missed dearly.

Chinese loves to use the bitter melon in cooking for its bitter flavor such as stir-fries and sours. As for this time, I’ve used it to prepare the “pork and bitter melon stew” to gratify my craving. Nothing fancy is needed else than the ground bean sauce which you are able to get it easily in most Asian food markets. Good thing about this dish is the bitter melon doesn’t taste so bitter after it has been cooked.

Just couple of simple steps to go after and you will get a pleasant dish for dinner. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb baby back rib or rib (cut into chunks)
1/2 lb pork loin (cut into cubes)
2 medium-sized bitter melon (sliced)
5 cloves of garlic (minced)

Seasoning:

2 tbsp ground bean sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 dash of sesame oil

Cooking method:

1. Blanch the rib and pork loin with boiling water for few minutes until the scum has come out.
2. Heat up the pot with 2 tbsp oil. Add garlic, sauté until aromatic.
3. Add in the pork meat and seasoning. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add enough water to cover the meat and bring to boil. Then lower the heat to minimum and stew for an hour. Check constantly to make sure the water level is good. Add water if needed.
5. Add in bitter melon and stir well. Add water to cover the ingredients and stew for another 30 minutes.
6. Dish up and serve.

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Last Christmas when my mum was visiting she brought over so much of food and we haven’t finished them yet. Curry paste, chili powder, herbal soup packs, coffee, tea and etc. so much I couldn’t even remember all. Including are the two bags of black beans. Mum already cooked the Black Bean Soup for us once when she was here and left the other bag so we can cook it some other time. I like the soup but not the color because it is almost brownish black (:P). But Eric loved the black bean soup so much as he can eat the beans while enjoying the soup.

Soup is so easy to be prepared but just a bit time consuming to cook. What you can do is put everything into a pot of water and start cooking, walkaway to do your stuff and come back in 1 1/2 hours. Add some taste and the soup is ready to be served. This hot bowl of black bean soup is great as an easy weekday dinner.

Alternatively, we can also cook the Chinese herbal black chicken black bean soup which is great to rejuvenate your body.  “Black Chicken” (烏雞) is richer in protein compare to the normal chicken but this time i substituted it with pork ribs. Add in some Chinese herbs, but it is suggested to refer to Chinese doctor based on your needs so the soup will not be too overpowering. If you do not know what to add just add the basic herbs such as red dates(紅棗) and goji berries/wolfberries (杞子), you won’t go wrong with this.  Either way you can enjoy an enriched and delicious black bean soup.

Ingredients:

1 packet of Black Bean (rinse)
1 lb pork ribs (rinse, cut into smaller pieces)
1 8 oz pork loins (rinse, cut into smaller pieces)
2 dried squids (rinse, cut into smaller pieces)

Serve: 4 people

Cooking Method:

1. Cut the pork ribs and pork loins in smaller pieces, blanch  in a pot of boiling water to remove its blood residues  and scums. Drain and rinse the ribs and pork with cold water.
2. Fill a big pot of water, bring to boil. Add in the pork ribs, pork loins, black beans, dried squid pieces.
3. Bring to boil for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low simmer cover for 1 1/2 hours till the beans and meat are tender.
4. Add salt to taste.

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In Chinese saying, “three dishes and one soup”  (三菜1湯) completes a meal.  For those who are away from home like us who cannot enjoy Mum’s home cooking, or we will say no good meal or soup (沒湯水喝) to consume,  you can always try out our easy cooking or soup recipes. Pat has previously posted so many soup recipes that you can easily prepare at home. We always try to boil the soup at least once during the weekends to pamper ourselves for a nice complete meal. Plus the leftover soup tasted even better and it is great for simple weekday dinner.

The corn soup is sweet as it has infused the natural sweetness from the corns and pork ribs. Most importantly I get to eat the corn at the same time. I will never have enough of corns. This is a super easy yet delicious soup to have.

I have added some goji berries and dried Chinese yam root pieces or Dioscorea (huái shān 淮山, shān yào 山葯) to the soup just like my mum’s cooking. The Chinese yam root is claimed to tonify the Qi (氣) or energy, served to augment the spleen, stomach, lungs and kidney functions. Nowadays you can actually see more and more fresh Chinese Yam root available in the Asian market, they can be used in stir frying dishes, soups and so on. Also more and more recipes are available using these ingredients to treat weak digestion, weakness for rejuvenating the body.  I bought it in dried packet form for the purpose to be added in the soup sometimes. You can opt out the chinese herbs if you don’t like it and just cook a simple pot of corn soup to keep your body cool in hotter days.

Ingredients:

4 Corns (cut into 3)
1/2 lb baby back rib or rib (cut into chunks)
1/2 lb pork loin (cut into cubes)
A handful goji berries (杞子) optional
12 dried chinese yam root (淮山片 , 山葯片) optional
2 ½ gallons water
Salt to taste

Serve: 4 people

Cooking Method:

1. Blanch the pork ribs and pork loin in a pot of boiling water to remove its blood residues  and scums. Drain and rinse the ribs and pork with cold water.
2. Fill a big pot of water, bring to boil. Add in the pork ribs, pork loins, corn, goji berries and the dried Chinese yam root.
3. Bring to boil for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low simmer cover for 1 1/2 to 2 hours till the meat is tender and the soup is sweet.
4. Add salt to taste.