Soup Name: Almonds and Pork Lung Soup
Chinese Name: 杏汁豬肺湯 (Xìng zhī zhū fèi tāng)
Introduction:
A traditional Chinese soup that is served in most Chinese restaurants (at least in Hong Kong) and this relatively difficult soup will bring you great pride if you actually execute! I say this because for starters, cleaning and preparing pork lung is not an easy task. Secondly, preparing the almonds is not an easy task because this recipe calls for almond juice. However, because of all the grunt hours and sweat you’ve put into making this, the enjoyment is that much more worth it. Trust me! So here I give you a soup that many of our readers have requested. Good luck and let me know how yours turns out!
What Ingredients are required?
- 1 pound fresh pork shank, salted
- 1 fresh pork lung, washed and prepared
- 2 tablespoons of almond kernals
- 2 tablespoons of white rice
- 1 tablespoon of apricot kernels
- 5-6 preserved sweet dates
- 3 slices of fresh ginger
- 60 g of dried cabbage, washed and separated (optional)
- 2 L of water
- 1 teaspoon of salt (to marinate the pork)
How do I prepare it?
- Pre-marinate your pork shank with the salt and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
- Prepare your pork lung (see instructions here) by washing, cutting into cubes or slices and then frying in a hot wok or pan with ginger
- Set aside your pork lung once cooked
- Begin to boil your soup water
- In a separate pot of boiling water, blanch your pre-marinated pork shank and then set aside
- To make your almond juice, wash the rice and almonds. In a blender, add the almonds, rice and 2 cups of water and blend until smooth.
- With a fine strainer or sieve, separate the almond juice from blended grains
- When your soup water boils, add the pork shank, pork lung, apricot kernals, dates and cabbage together. Boil on high for 30 minutes and reduce to a simmer for 1.5 hours.
- Add the strained almond juice to your soup and boil on high for another 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Any benefits?
- Excellent soup for the lungs to help relieve cough because of lung problems or asthma
- Helps moisten the lungs and throat
- This soup is said to help strengthen the lungs
Any precautions?
- Pig’s lung must be thoroughly cleaned and fried with ginger to remove the “steely” taste from the organ
- Pig’s lung must be taken with caution for those with gout as it is an internal organ that can further irritate your gout
Other comments
I’ve also noticed that some restaurant versions of this soup is far more dense in its white color. You can definitely add more almonds, or even purchase the pre-ground almond juice (intended for the Chinese dessert) for your soup.
What can I use in place of pork lungs? I can’t get any where I am. Is there a substitute?
Hi Lilics, the pork lung is a pretty specific organ, but I suppose any part of the pork is OK. For example, if you’re cooking the almond soup, it’s pretty tasty without the pork lungs. Pork liver is actually not a bad substitute – but any type of pork will suffice! Hope this helps! Lisa
I had this in Hong Kong recently. The version I had included dried scallops and lotus seeds!
This is great! Thank you! This soup actually takes quite a bit of work to make, but it sure is yummy.
Hi,
What’s the difference between apricot kernels and almond kernels ?
My 17mo boy is underweight and has been admitted to hospital few times.
He is prone colds ,fevers and infections whenever he is expose to sick people.Plus meal time is a nightmare as he took nearly 1hour+ to eat.
Any soups that can increase his appetite and immune system?thx
Hi Theresa, I’m sorry to hear the challenges of your son’s health. Soups in general are good for children, because it’s easy to digest, you can hide more things in them with the right nutrients, and you can add a few herbs that may help (although keep it quite neutral and mildly warm). Any soup within the children’s soup should be idea (depending on what he likes to eat).
Start with soups such as:
http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/simple-vegetarian-soup-for-children/
http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/black-silkie-chicken-with-vegetables-and-chestnuts/
http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/pumpkin-corn-and-chinese-yam-in-fish-soup/
Or you can check the list of soups for children here:
http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/category/soups/children/
And if you can, serve the vegetables as well as part of the meal. As for picky or slow eaters, my children were the same. However, I tried to be creative in making a variety of things or flavours. Hope it helps!
Lisa