Almonds and Pork Lung Soup

by LadyTong | Feb 10, 2011 | Uncategorized | 6 comments

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?

1. Pre-marinate your pork shank with the salt and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
2. 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
3. Set aside your pork lung once cooked
4. Begin to boil your soup water
5. In a separate pot of boiling water, blanch your pre-marinated pork shank and then set aside
6. 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.
7. With a fine strainer or sieve, separate the almond juice from blended grains
8. 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.
9. 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.