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.
What Ingredients are required?
1 pound of pork shin or pork bones
1 slice of wintermelon, sliced with skin on
2 fresh corn, kernals sliced
70 g of fresh gingko bilobas
70 g dried lily seeds
1 large piece of fresh lotus leaf
2 L of water
salt to taste
How do I prepare it?
- 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!)
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