Another simple soup with a few ingredients you can pick up at your local grocery or wet mart. The winter melon is usually more readily available during the warmer months in HK, but beef and fish balls are in season all the time (yah, in the frozen section of your friendly supermarket). Use the simplest balls, that being beef and fish balls without any surprises on the inside (Taiwanese styled fish balls usually have exploding surprises, so avoid these). The flavors of the balls (mainly salt and whatever other marinades they use) will seep out and make your soup tasty, so don’t add salt unless you’ve tried it first. You can make this soup in about thirty minutes by simply throwing all the ingredients together. In this case, I separated the peel from the flesh so that the melon could soften quicker. In “old fire” wintermelon soups, I will keep the peel attached – but this is really up to personal preference.
What’s involved?
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 large slice of winter melon, sliced with skin off (but the peel is also boiled as part of the soup)
10 precooked beef balls
10 precooked fish balls
2 L of water
Cooking Instructions
Start boiling your soup water
Wash the winter melon skin and then peel the skin off the winter melon and cube the remaining winter melon flesh
Rinse the beef and fish balls in warm water
When the water boils, throw all the ingredients together
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Traditional Chinese Name: 冬瓜雞腳湯 (dōng guā jī jiǎo tāng)
Introduction:
The feet of the chicken are one of the Chinese’s most interesting “unwanted” parts of the chicken (after the bottom parts). It’s so versatile that the Chinese use chicken feet in soups, stews, dim sum and other dishes. I remember back in the days when I was a young lad that my parents would go to the Western super markets and get chicken feet by the bags for a whole dollar. It’s definitely not as cheap anymore because of the influx of demanding chicken feet eaters, but still an affordable, tasty and collagen packed ingredient. This wintermelon soup is simple to make and if you’re a single gal (or guy) you can make it in a one person pot. My husband really liked this soup and gobbled all the feet. Thanks for the clean up job, sweetie!
Amount serves: 5-6 large soup bowls (around 300 mL each)
Soak the gingo biloba and lotus seed in warm water for 10 minutes
Rinse and cut off the nails on your chicken feet
In a small pot of boiling water, blanch your chicken feet for 5 minutes
Remove chicken feet from boiling water, strain and set aside
Boil your soup water
When the soup boils, throw all the ingredients together
Boil on high (covered) for 30 minutes, reduce to a medium boil for another 30 minutes (you can continue to boil or use a thermal cooker to keep it hot, as some people love their chicken feet super soft)
Serve and enjoy!
Any benefits?
This soup is excellent for cooling down the body and heat from hot summer days
Chicken feet is an excellent source of collagen and is low in fat
Any precautions?
Women in their first trimester of pregnancy should avoid as it is an extremely cooling soup and may cause contractions (you can add more ginger slices to “heat” up the soup)
Melon soups are best consumed within same day as keeping melon soups overnight or over an extended period will make the melons sour (and so will your soup!)
Soup Name: Wintermelon with Lotus Leaf and Corn in Pork Broth
Traditional Chinese Name: 冬瓜湯 (dōng guā tāng)
Introduction:
There is one particular day in the summer where the Chinese call it the “hottest day of the month”. This is the soup for that day. When I went to the wet market that morning and wanted to make another soup, my veggie vendor told me to make this soup – without a doubt. It’s a cooling, heat-reducing soup for those really stuffy, hot days in the summer. You can use either pork or chicken (or both) and it may need a bit of salt because all the ingredients are mildly flavored, but it still tastes slightly sweet and natural without the salt.
Blanch pork in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes
Drain pork and set aside
Rinse wintermelon and slice with the skin on each piece
(Optiona) Cut corn into large pieces or slice kernals from the cob
Rinse gingko bilobas and lotus seeds into warm water
Start to boil your soup water
When your soup water is boiling, add all the ingredients together (including the kernal-less cobs)
Boil on medium heat for 1 hour and set in a thermal pot for another 3 hours
Serve and enjoy!
Any benefits?
This soup is excellent for cooling down the body and heat from hot summer days
Any precautions?
Women in their first trimester of pregnancy should avoid as it is an extremely cooling soup and may cause contractions
Melon soups are best consumed within same day as keeping melon soups overnight or over an extended period will make the melons sour (and so will your soup!)
Soup Name: Quick Boil Hairy Gourd, Bamboo and Chicken Soup
Traditional Chinese Name: 节瓜竹筍雞肉湯 ( jié guā zhú sǔn ji ròu tāng)
Introduction:
To follow other quick boil soups we’ve made recently, here’s another quick soup idea. Although this soup can be made the traditional way (with a whole chicken and fresh bamboo), if you’re in a hurry, we can suggest some short-cuts, too. Use chicken pieces to replace the whole chicken and canned bamboo to replace fresh bamboo and you can have a delicious and nutritious soup ready in about 30 minutes — perfect after a long day at work or if the kids are hungry. Bump up the nutrition levels and the color by adding carrots or corn to your soup.
What ingredients are required?
1 pound of chicken pieces 1 large hairy gourd (a.k.a fuzzy melon) 2 large fresh bamboo shoots, cut into slices (or canned) 2 large carrots (peeled and cut into pieces) 1 L of chicken broth/stock 2 L of water
How do I prepare it?
Pour water and chicken broth together into a large pot and turn on high heat to boil
Wash, peel and slice the hairy gourd into edible pieces
Wash, peel and cut carrots into pieces
Prepare bamboo and cut into slices
When the water boils, add all the ingredients together
Boil on high for 30 minutes
Serve and enjoy!
Any benefits?
Removes heat from the body and is mildly cooling
Bamboo shoots are an excellent source of fiber, potassium and are high in antioxidants
Easy soup to make that is tasty and the winter melon absorbs the flavor of the meat and broth making it very tasty to eat
You can substitute the chicken stock with water, but add some salt for flavoring
A child-friendly soup
Any precautions?
Too much bamboo may be hard to digest (due to the high fiber content)
Traditional Chinese Name: 冬瓜龍眼素湯 (dōng guā lóngyǎn sù tāng)
Introduction:
A very light and delicious soup appropriate for hot, stuffy summers. It is refreshing (even though it’s hot) and slightly sweet with all the goodness of natural flavoring and ingredients. It is a meatless soup and a quick boil, so it’s super easy to make. Plus, it’s a great base for adding other ingredients such as corn, carrots, onions and I serve it with udon or noodles to make it a meal!
What ingredients are required?
3 fresh carrots, cut into large pieces 2 fresh corn, cut into large pieces 1 large slice of wintermelon, peeled and cut into large pieces 20 pieces of dried longan 2 L of water
How do I prepare it?
Soak dried longan in warm water for 10 minutes (or until soft)
Start boiling your soup water
Wash and prepare wintermelon, carrots, and corn (keep the wintermelon skin)
When soup water boils, add all the ingredients together
Boil on high for 30 minutes
Serve and enjoy! Salt if necessary.
Any benefits?
Oil free soup
Excellent source of protein and vitamins
Easy to make soup
Soup is ideal for hot summers and mildly cooling to relieve heatiness in the body
Wintermelon helps detoxify the skin and body and regulates sugar levels
Any precautions?
Wintermelon is a mildly cooling ingredient and should be cautiously consumed if in your first trimester of pregnancy or if you’re menstruating as cooling foods intensify cramping
If someone is experiencing diarrhea or loose stool, they should avoid consuming the wintermelon seeds
