Superior Soup Yin Choy

One of my Hubby's favourite vegetable is the leafy 'yin choy' or Chinese spinach (I've just looked it up on wiki and it's called Amaranth Green). The rich vegetable mineral taste is absolutely addictive when stirfried or boiled in soup.

You will find this dish quite common in Chinese restaurants as it is not only delicious but good for your health with the combination of 'dang kuei' (angelica sinesis) and 'kei chi' (wolfberry). The richness of anchovy/ chicken broth combined with Chinese herbs gives you that appetizing golden hue you see.

Superior Soup Yin Choy Recipe

A bunch of Yin Choy (wash thoroughly as yin choy tends to hold more sand particles)
1/2 a bowl of anchovies (soaked in water)
1 cup of chicken broth/soup
2 slices of ginger
1 clove of garlic (lightly bruised)
1 tbsp of kei chi
10 gm dang kuei
Deep fried baby silver fish (Ngan Yu Chai)
1/2 cup water

Method:

1. Firstly, heat up a non-stick pan and fry (without oil) the anchovies that have been soaked until you can smell the fragrance. Remove aside.
2. Heat up wok. Add ginger & garlic and fry for a few seconds before adding the chicken broth & early fried anchovies. Bring to boil and add the kei chi & dang kuei. Turn down the heat to allow soup to simmer for 10 min or until you smell and taste the herbal fragrance. Add water if necessary.
3. Bring the soup to a boil again and add in the yin choy. Boil for 2 min before dishing into a soup bowl.
4. Place deep fried baby silver fish on top of the yin choy.

Note:
Some restaurant like to serve this dish with century egg. You do not need to boil the egg with the soup. Just clean and cut the egg into small sections and place them into the soup when serving.

Szechuan Hot & Sour Soup

Szechuan Hot & Sour Soup (15 Mar 2012)

 
I'd like to call this soup an Asian version of a minestrone. It provides all the nutrition you need in a meal, but still taste heavenly. If you have a very Asian kitchen like mine, you'd bound to have the basic ingredients for this recipe. I knew I had a packet of dried lily buds somewhere in my kitchen, but I gave up finding it as I was getting hungry!

What's more, you can choose to do the quickie 15 minutes soup or the 2 hours full recipe! As you already know, I love to cook from scratch but don't worry, for this recipe I've used both methods. I understand how demotivated it must feel if you have to boil chicken stock for a couple of hours just to serve yourself!

For a vegetarian version, omit the garlic and meat. You could use mushroom stock to replace the chicken stock.

Szechuan Hot & Sour Soup Recipe (for 4 rice bowl)

Ingredients:

100g pork,cut into 1 inch strips

4 Chinese mushrooms

1 piece of black fungus

A handful of lilybuds 

1/2 cup of bamboo shoots (optional)

1 box of silken tofu

2 slices of ginger

1 clove of garlic, minced
2-3 dried chilli

Pork Marinade:

1 tsp cornflour

1/2 tsp rice wine

A dash of salt & pepper

Seasoning:

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp of rice vinegar

1 tbsp of black vinegar

Cornstarch

1 Egg, lightly beaten

Stock:

Quick version - Mix well 2 tbsp of chicken stock powder to 1 rice bowl of water

 Normal version - Use 1 chicken carcass with 3 inch of white radish and boil for 1 1/2 hours.

Garnishing:

Scallions, sliced thinly

Chilli oil (optional)

Method:

1. Soak Chinese mushrooms, black fungus and lily buds into hot water until they turn soft.
2. Meanwhile, marinade pork until ready to cook.
3. Slice mushrooms and black fungus thinly. Wash lilybuds and cut off its hard tip. Wash & remove seeds from dried chilli.
4. Remove tofu from box and cut it into 1 inch strips.
5. Prepare chicken stock early if you are making your own stock. Otherwise, prepare the quick version. 
6. In a pot, add a tsp of oil and saute ginger & garlic. Add in pork and stirfry until half cook. Put in the rest of ingredients except tofu. Stir fry until fragrant. Add soy sauce and continue to fry for 1 minute.
7. Add 4 rice bowls of  chicken stock (quick - 1 bowl of stock + 3 bowls of water)
8. Add tofu and bring to boil. Pour in the rice & black vinegar. (You can use either one too)
9. Make sure that your cornstarch has a slightly thick consistency. Pour it in and stir well. Turn off the heat. Pour the egg in and stir with a chopstick. 
10. Ready to serve! Do add some la mien if you want a heartier meal!

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

My sister, Charmaine has been living a pretty healthy lifestyle considering her hectic work schedule. Sometimes she'd sent me an image of her many dinners and this soup was one of them. Naturally, I was eager to try the recipe out besides adding some international flare into my Asian diet.

The recipe is adapted from taste.com.au. It has a little Middle Eastern feel to it so I've changed some of the ingredients to suit the family palate. (or rather the kids!)

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
1 tbs finely grated fresh ginger
1kg Butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, coarsely chopped
500g sweet potato (kumara), peeled, coarsely chopped
1 tbs ground cumin
1L (4 cups) vegetable stock
125ml (1/2 cup) water

Method:

1. Heat half the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add half the ginger and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin, sweet potato and half the cumin and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until aromatic.
2. Increase heat to high. Add the stock and water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin and sweet potato are very tender. Set aside to cool slightly. Transfer to the jug of a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.