ABC Chinese Soup (with a Fancy Lobster Soup Base)

by | Feb 21, 2023 | Fall Soups, NEW 3, Soups for Children, Winter Soups | 0 comments

Soup Name:

ABC Chinese Soup (using a Lobster Base Soup)

Traditional Chinese Name:

ABC湯 (ABC tāng).  The easiest name in the Cantonese repertoire for ABC vegetable soup is 雜菜湯 (zá cài tāng), which literally translates to mixed vegetable soup.

This soup is warming in nature and sweet to taste.

To start, you can check out this video here where we explore this concept of “ABC” soup.  There are as many iterations of this soup that you can permutate the number of vegetables you can find!  

What makes this soup so special is I used the leftover water when I boiled 2 whole lobsters for another meal.  Lobsters were on sale at the supermarket, thought it would be amazing to eat fresh lobster in the evening, so also decided to not waste the delicious seafood goodness and made a soup for dinner as well.

ABC soup is a traditional favourite in Chinese households and most recipes are hand down from generation to generation with their own variations! 

 

What’s involved?

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 2 hours

Total time: 2 hours 30 mins

Serves: 6 bowls of soup

Ingredients

Cooking Instructions

  1. In your soup pot, add in 4L of water and bring to a boil.  Once that is boiling nicely, gently drop in the lobsters ensuring to cover and cook them quickly.   Boil until the lobster is fully cooked, which is around 7-10 minutes for the first pound, and 2-3 minutes for each additional pound.  I was using ~2 pound lobsters, so that’s around 12 minutes.
  2. Remove lobster from water and set the lobster aside.  Preserve this water for the soup base.  Turn this heat to a medium boil as we’ll begin to prepare the soup.
  3. In a shallow pan on medium heat, add in the chicken thighs and brown all the edges until crispy and brown.  The chicken doesn’t need to be fully cooked (as the soup will do it), but you want enough browning for flavour.  You don’t need to add oil to the pan as the chicken thighs will render out its own oil.  
  4. Once chicken is browned and crispy on all sides, remove from pan and add to your lobster water soup.  Keep this on a medium boil for now.
  5. Prepare all your vegetables into similarly sized pieces.  
  6. Add all the ingredients into your soup.  This includes the vegetables and dried Chinese herbs.
  7. Boil on medium high for 30 minutes.
  8. Reduce to a low boil for another 2.5 hours.
  9. Serve and enjoy!  No salt needed!

EQUIPMENT USED

To answer your questions on what equipment I'm using, I've built a section here where you can find and explore what I'm using to make soups.  Ingredients are a little harder, but I will do my best as I source them around.  However, you can always message me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook, and I will reply and try to point you in some direction!  

A great help for fish or small bones in soups, including small ingredients such as barley, fox nuts, spices just to keep everything together.

A MUST HAVE in the kitchen!  Energy saving, cost effective, and perfect for busy chefs!  Check out my article here that explains it.

Another MUST HAVE in the kitchen for soups!  It's so fine that it will scoop off the top oil and foam layer when using meats in your soup!

I use these types of stove top safe tea pots to make most of my herbal teas!

EXPLORE MORE

Making Vegan Chinese Soup for Freezing

Soup Name: Vegan Green Radish Carrots and Corn Chinese Soup for Freezing Traditional Chinese Name: 紅青蘿蔔湯 (hóng qing luóbo tang) Nature:  Cooling Taste: Sweet and savory For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.This is a series of "MAKING FROZEN CHINESE SOUPS" for...

Homemade do-it-yourself Hot Pot for Dinner!

Soup Name: Homemade do-it-yourself hot pot for dinner!  Tonight, is a tomato soup base. Traditional Chinese Name: 番茄火鍋 (fān qié huǒ guō), aka in Cantonese, DA BEEN LO! Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and savory  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.Here are the...

Did you know rice water is amazing for your skin?

Did you know rice water is amazing for your skin? Integrate it into your skincare routine today! Rice is known to be antiaging, anti-inflammatory, whitening, photoprotective, and moisturizing!One guiding principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the yin yang...

Amazing soup making and kitchenware on Temu! Come unpack with me!

AMAZING SOUP MAKING AND KITCHENWARE FINDS on TEMU!I've recently discovered Temu and the shopping experience is AMAZING!  Their kitchenware, soup making, and cooking equipment is vast, affordable, and some innovation products!  Come explore haul #1 with me.  I've...

Post run wind expelling and lung healing Chinese tea

Tea Name: Post run wind expelling and lung healing Chinese tea Traditional Chinese Name: 红枣甘草羅漢果薑茶 (hóng zǎo gān cǎo luó hàn guǒ jiāng chá) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and slightly bitter For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.The tea is warming!  It's got...

Homemade do-it-yourself Hot Pot for Dinner!

Soup Name: Homemade do-it-yourself hot pot for dinner!  Tonight, is a tomato soup base. Traditional Chinese Name: 番茄火鍋 (fān qié huǒ guō), aka in Cantonese, DA BEEN LO! Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and savory  For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.Here are the...

Post run wind expelling and lung healing Chinese tea

Tea Name: Post run wind expelling and lung healing Chinese tea Traditional Chinese Name: 红枣甘草羅漢果薑茶 (hóng zǎo gān cǎo luó hàn guǒ jiāng chá) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet and slightly bitter For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.The tea is warming!  It's got...

How to meal prep Chinese soups in batch (for rice cooker or stove top)

I have no time! I still want delicious Chinese soup! I want something easy! You got it!  When I did my initial "experiment" on testing the rice cooker to make Chinese soup, I honestly didn't know what to expect - BUT... it turned out amazing!   And then, it got me...

Warming Chinese Herbal Tea for Menstruation and Menopause

Tea Name: Warming Chinese Herbal Tea for Menstruation and Menopause Traditional Chinese Name: 女士茶 (nǚ shì chá) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.This warming Chinese herbal tea is designed to heal, promote stagnant Qi in the...

Red Dates, Longan, and Wolfberries Warming Chinese Herbal Tea

Tea Name: Warming red dates, longans, and wolfberries Chinese herbal tea Traditional Chinese Name: 红枣茶 (hóng zǎo chá) Nature:  Warming Taste: Sweet For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.This is one of the most common warming Chinese herbal teas available. ...

GIVE YOUR LOVE OF SOUP.

FOLLOW US AND SHARE.