Soup Name: Pork Bones and Arrowroot Soup
Traditional Chinese Name: 蓮藕栗子湯 (lián ou lì zi tāng)
Introduction:
This savory soup is sweet in taste and healthy to eat. It’s rich in vitamins and fiber and is neutral for your body. Caution may need to be taken with chestnuts as it can potentially be allergenic, although it is not very common.
What Ingredients are required?
1 pound of fresh pork bones
2 large lotus roots
3 large dried dates
5-6 pieces of dried scallop
10 – 15 chestnuts
1 teaspoon of salt (to marinate the pork bones)
How do I prepare it?
- Mix salt and pork bones together and let sit in a bag for at least an hour (best overnight)
- Wash the pork bones thoroughly in cool running water
- Start boiling your water soup and add the dried dates and conpoys
- In a separate pot, blanch the pork bones and strain it to remove any dirt and debris from the blanching
- Add the pork bones and chopped lotus root to the boiling water of your soup
- In a separate pot, boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes
- Strain and immediately peel the shell and outer skin
- Put the peeled and boiled chestnuts into your boiling soup
- Boil together for at least 60-90 minutes on high heat. The longer you boil it, the tastier the soup. It is best eaten when the pork is falling off the bones.
Any benefits?
- This soup is high in fiber and is good for muscles, nerves and veinous system
Any precautions?
- The longer you boil this soup, the tastier it gets, but that also means the chestnuts will begin to disintegrate. If boiled too long, the chestnuts will thicken the soup and its remnants will sink to the bottom.
hi, i just wanted to ask why do i have to mix salt with the bones?
The reason Chinese people say to salt the bones is to release the “fire” or “heatiness” from the bones. You do this an hour or two before you boil the bones or meat and it reduces the overall “heatiness” of the soup. From a more practical standpoint, once you marinate in salt, you can simply just blanch the meat and boiling water and the meat is tasty enough without additional salt.
Hi, how much water do i use?
Hi my son is allergic to nuts and this includes chestnuts so do I just not add it or can I use something else?
Hello Jennifer, you can eliminate the chestnuts and add seeds instead, such as lotus seeds, or barley. The best is to pair with things that are more earthy in flavours as the roots give that off primarily. Chinese Yam is also a good replacement. Hope this helps! Lisa