January 15, 2012
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Home cooking – in Hong Kong is what I have been missing since living here in L.A. The part what I missed most is the different kinds of home brewed soup “invented” by mom. From what I was told, different ingredients has certain purposes to help stabilize and provide nutrition to your body. Most of these soup recipes are mixed together and then adding water and boiled for two to three hours. The hot boiling soup is usually served before the rice dishes.Huai-shan, lycium berries, Chinese walnuts and pork soup – this Chinese herbal soup energizes your system and is best consumed during the cold winter months; tastes more like chicken soup rather than a herbal medicine…..
River vegetables, carrots, pork and sweet dates soup(西洋菜湯) – the vegetables and carrots helps to ‘wash’ off the impurities in your body while the pork and sweet dates provide protein and sugar to revitalize your system…..
Squid with lotus root and peanut soup (蓮藕花生魷魚湯) – the crispy lotus root and peanuts provide a good source of fiber, while the cooked squid is for protein; this soup is also good during all year round…..
Carrots, potato and fish soup – a special kind of fish is used for this soup, sometimes, a few tomatoes are thrown in for flavour…..
Green and red carrots, Chinese almond and pork soup – the green carrots will take out the “heat” inside of your system, good when you ate too much fried food…..
The above soup recipes can be substituted with a whole chicken, or just a large chicken breast; or it is best to use lean pork meat too. Adding a pinch of salt will not spoil the overall taste too!
Comments (31)
My mom was a big believer in soups and always made sure there was soup with meals. She sometimes even made a 2nd stock from the bones / meats to extract everything out of them. J also loves soups too. Can you post a few soup recipes from your mom? I always like to check out new recipes. I’ve never done anything with fish or squid before.
I miss mymom’s home made soups. Too bad she does not cook any more. So your mom cooked all these yummy soup? Oh, man, I miss my soup. Hehe
I love homemade soups. These look great!
SOUPah!
Something I’ve always found interesting about the Chinese soups is the level of awareness of the benefits brought about by different ingredients. I suspect the same thing may well exist for many soups from different cultures, but rarely is it thought about in such detail.
oh i loveee these soups.. i can take them every day. in fact, i just did today!
)
@thetropicallife - No wonder you are in such good shape! I just wish I had the time to prepare these!
@christao408 - Chris, you made a very good point about the detailness of preparing these soups. My mom and her helper spend hours in the kitchen cleaning the vegetables, chopping the ingredients into edible sizes, and then keeping a watchful eye while boiling the soup. Indeed, soup making (or food preparation in general) is a labor of love!
@oxyGENE_08 - *nom nom* Gene!!
@ButYouSeeTheRealMe - Thank you, I’m glad you like my homemade soup!
@stevew918 - maybe you can get some soup recipes from your mom? Yes, my mom and her helper prepare and cook the soup. Most of these have just a few ingrediens and are quite simple to prepare, but it takes a lot of time to boil!
@ElusiveWords - Matt, I’m glad that you find my home-cooked soup delicious. Too bad I did not have (or asked for) a recipe. As far as I know, the portions are in a ratio of one part ingredient to two pars of water. The squid are the dried ones from the market. We sometimes mixed in a few dried oysters too. As for the meat part, use very lean pork, or chicken without the skin. As you mentioned, pork or chicken bones are good ingredients as well. That sounds good when you mentioned J likes Chinese soup, I can imagine you two making soup in the kitchen during some weekend!:P
“Old fire soup” – You know you are homesick when you want some.
Yum, I’ve had and like all of these, except the fish soup… I hate fish lol
LOL I’ve had the 2nd soup without pork, so it tastes pretty bland. But I love adding it when I’m making instant noodles so it soaks up the soup flavor. And the 3rd one without squid lol. Yum chinese almonds! So small and crunchy
@manmantong2000 - I get that “old fire soup” in restaurants here in L.A. too! Very delicious as well!
@mostlystardust - Can always substitute fish with something else, such as lean pork or chicken breast.
@hilabpartnerxD - Yeah, it’ll be pretty blend just with the herb by itelf. I like crunching those little almonds as well!
i like soup, and i try to make it often in the winter. but i don’t know much about which herbs are supposed to be used when, so my soups are a bit less innovative (or maybe more innovative… it’s more of a “this sounds good, i’ll throw that in” approach!). i remember as a kid my parents used to make a chicken soup with a bunch of different kinds of herbs in it (similar to your soup#2,but with more things in it), which was quite good… but i have no idea what the many different types of herbs were.
The soups look lovely.
@making_a_comeback_05 - Thank you, I’m glad all the soup are very delicious too!
@kunhuo42 - For those “unknown” ingredients, I go to some shop which sell Chinese herbs and ask what’s good to go with chicken or lean meat. The shopkeeper will usually pack all the ingredients together in a small pack to make it easier to add into the soup pot. There are a couple of neighborhoods here in L.A. with large Chinese concentration, and have shops which sell herbal ingredients.
Nothing like a home cooked meal.
Welcome back!
@CareyGLY – Thanks Carey. I missed home cooked meal now. LOL
the lotus root soup is my fav from them all. here at home we make the soup with some pork ribs
This post has made me really miss my own mom’s ‘inventions’. I got to admit though, I love river vegetables (and would have never knew what it was called if it wasn’t for your post). Where is the shark fin soup though?
I want to see some of that good stuff.
@Devilzgaysianboi - Shark’s fin soup? Most of the restaurants took that out of the menu because of political reasons. Therefore, we have to special order this soup ahead of time! hehe~~
@rudyhou - Yes, lotus root soup is delicious! I like the crispy texture and great with pork ribs!
I love soups. Hot soups in winter and cold soups in summer. Love the lotus root soup here.
@ZSA_MD - Soups are good for replenishing your body, especially after a long hard day from work!
Your contents are too simple to read and easy to understand.
recipes for salad