My mother-in-law made this soup one day and it was so simply brilliant, that I tried it myself. I am a fan of boiled peanuts and papaya is a neutrally healthy fruit to add to soups. You can use either unripe red papayas or green papayas. The red papayas are definitely sweeter, but you need to use the unripe ones so they don’t disintegrate too badly in the soup. The green papayas aren’t as sweet, but have a lingering sweet taste that’s quite delicious in itself. I loaded in the peanuts and eat them as a meal – yum!
Soup Name: Papaya and Peanuts in Pork Broth
Traditional Chinese Name: 木瓜花生豬骨湯 (mù gua huā shēng zhū gǔ tāng)
Papaya and Peanuts in Pork Broth
Recipe Type: Soup
Cuisine: Chinese
Author: LadyTong
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
100g raw [url href=”http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/peanuts/”]peanuts[/url]
2 raw [url href=”http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/papaya/”]green papayas[/url]
1 pound of fresh [url href=”http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/pork-shank/”]pork shank[/url]
10 large [url href=”http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/large-dried-dates/”]dried dates[/url]
2 L of water
Instructions
Start boiling your soup water in a large pot (thermal ideal)
In a smaller pot, bring enough water to cover the pork shank to a boil and blanch the pork for 5 minutes in the boiling water, remove when done
Cut the papayas into large cubes
When your soup water boils, add all the ingredients together
Boil on medium heat for 30 minutes (ensuring a constant boil)
Reduce heat to a low boil for another 1 hour (or place into thermal pot)
This interesting soup is mainly composed of round stuff (little nibbles of things) like nuts and beans. This soups excellent for “brain” and “memory” development (so says my herbalist) and great for kids. This soup does need something to punch up the taste because without additional veggies, it really does taste a bit bland and nutty, so I threw in a pumpkin (which still didn’t make it sweet enough, so maybe throw in some carrots and corn too). Next time.
Soup Name: Snow Pears, Chayotes and Seabed Coconut in Pork Broth
Traditional Chinese Name: 雪梨合掌瓜湯 (xuě lí hup jeung gwa tāng)
Introduction: A mildly cooling soup that helps relieve heatiness, assist in cough and is naturally sweet. It’s great for kids, easy to make and contains all natural ingredients. You can use chicken meat with this instead of pork bones (or pork shank). If you can’t get fresh (or frozen) seabed coconut, the dried version is sufficient (although not as sweet, so you can substitute additional snow pears).
Soup Name: Bok Choy with Chinese Ham in Pork Broth
Traditional Chinese Name: 菜乾火腿湯 (cài gān huǒ tuǐ tāng)
Introduction:
One of the best smelling Chinese soups I have ever made. It is deliciously sweet and extremely beneficial to the lungs with it’s perfect combination of Chinese herbs that target to moisturize, heal, cleanse the lungs. The dried bok choy and preserved Chinese ham are a great and common Cantonese combination for soups.
Soup Name: Corn, Pumpkin and Carrots in Pork Broth
Traditional Chinese Name: 玉米南瓜紅蘿蔔湯 (yù mǐ nán guā hóng luóbo tāng)
Introduction: Another variation of vegetable pork broth. The beauty of pork broth and natural vegetables is the different types of soups you can make based on seasonality and availability of various vegetables. I like orange veggies because of their intensity of beta-carotene and it eats like a meal. Just another great soup that is naturally sweet and perfect for the whole family.
