Soup Name: Pork Bones with Winter Melon Soup
Traditional Chinese Name: 冬瓜湯 (dōng guā tāng)
Introduction:
This is a common summer soup to relieve heatiness and cool down the body. There are a variety of additions you can add to make this soup flavourful and unique. The winter melon is also an ornamental soup in which the entire winter melon is used as the “dish” of the soup and is double-boiled to achieve this affect. It is common to put 冬菜 (dōng choy) in this soup, but it’s been banned from being imported to Canada (as of recently), so I’ve replaced it with 梅菜 (mui choy) instead.
What Ingredients are required?
1 pound of fresh pork bones
1 large piece of winter melon
5-6 pieces of dried scallop
3 large dried dates
1/2 stalk of mui choy
1 salted duck egg (optional)
How do I prepare it?
- Start boiling your water soup
- In a separate pot, blanch the pork bones and strain it removing any dirt and debris from the blanching
- Add the pork bones to the boiling water of your soup
- Add the dried scallops, large dates to your soup
- Cut the winter melon into cubes (the peel can be boiled as well)
- Crack the duck egg raw into the soup
- Boil for at least 60-90 minutes on high heat. The longer you boil it, the tastier the soup!
Any benefits?
- It is a great soup to remove heatiness and cool the body – especially during the summer months
Any precautions?
- Since winter melon is a cooling food, precaution should be taken if you are pregnant less than 3 months or menstruating as it can potentially cause contractions
Is it necessary to clean the mui choy before putting it in the soup? When should the winter melon & the mui choy be placed into the soup?
Is this soup good for autumn weather?
Dear Melodie, Winter melon is a cooling ingredient, more ideal for summer, but also ideal to bridge “indian summer” into Autumn. Depending on what the temp is, you can drink this on hotter days. You can consider autumn soups (check out the autumn soups category: http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/category/soups/fall-soups/) – like soups with chicken bases. Hope this helps! Lisa