I had some waterchestnuts on hand and I remember this soup with beef in my soup book. Then when I checked the ingredients, sugarcane???? Where to get fresh ones? Then I came to think of it, should be the dry ones at herbal shops. Then when I went there,I found that it comes prepacked, and there's couchgrass root in it too. So I bought the pack home to later pick out whatever I needed. But there are no Chinese almonds in it, so I asked the herbalist to pack some for me separately.
Frankly there’s not much beef smell or taste. But the soup itself is sweet, but lacks a savoury meaty end. It does need more salt than most of the soups that I’ve done (my slow simmered soups usually need minimal soup to lend a salty end), maybe due to the high amount of non meat compounds, or the absence of seafood ingredients. Anyway, this is good for you.
Try this if you would like to clear heat, promote urination, detoxify and nourish the skin.
Beef Soup with Waterchestnuts and Wintermelon
Recipe Source: Soups for Expelling Dampness and Heat, by Chiu Sang
200gm beef
750gm winter melon
200gm water chestnuts (about 7 pcs)
150gm carrots
80gm dried sugarcane
10gm sweet Chinese almonds 南杏
10gm dried couchgrass 白茅根
2L water
Handful of coriander for sprinkling
1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, peel water chestnuts and cut carrots.
3. Scrub skin of wintermelon clean, remove seeds and cut into chunks.
4. Rinse dried sugarcane and couchgrass.
5. Cut beef into smaller pieces.
6. Put everything into the boiling water, bring back to a boil and let it simmer on low heat for 2 hours.
7. Sprinkle coriander into hot soup before serving.
What's up on Monday?
Fruit Week
yumm....very long time didnt have this. My granny used to cook this.
ReplyDeleteThis looks tasty and cooling. I don't know if I can find those dried herbs here in Indonesia. What is the couch grass called in Chinese?? Thanks for sharing your recipes, you give me a lot of idea for my dinners.
ReplyDeleteim looking forward to the post on fruits! (: (:
ReplyDeleteHow did you make the old fashioned soup look so sexy ! No matter what ingredients I put in my pot, they always turn out the same color. Muddy brown. Urg!
ReplyDeletePlease continue to share your soup recipes. I've run out of ideas so much so that my hubby has forgotten he is Cantonese !!
Wow..soup season now :o)
ReplyDeleteI used the same ready packed sugarcane to boil soup but sweet one. Never try it savory.
ReplyDeletei would love using these ingredients to make sweet soup one day. actually why beef?but i always think that the savoury ones would be better for those who cant have too much' cooling leung sui'
ReplyDeleteSmall Kucing,
ReplyDeleteOh, the same soup?
An Unreachable Dream,
Couchgrass is.. let me check the book... 白茅根
I think you can find the same prepack over there as this comes imported from China, the pack itself.
Sweetylicious,
Hehehe, monday looo
Experimental Cook,
It's been one week, I think the other readers might have had too much soup by now. It'll be many more weeks before another soup will pop up on my blog.
Jes,
today's the last :)
Gert,
I just use the some stuff from the pack, and discarded the rest :p
Cos I asked the herbalist, there's no loose sugarcane, except those comes packed.
lena,
The book says beef woh. Maybe everything is too cooling, so pair with beef gua. It is said in the book, beef provide nutrients, benefit the stomach and spleen
I don't take beef, but I still can substitute it with pork, right?
ReplyDeleteLittle Inbox,
ReplyDeleteShould be fine.
wow, u r on the roll with soups! I have difficulty finding some of the ingredients that u mentioned so photos will do for the time being..
ReplyDeleteInteresting ingredients for a soup! Love it!
ReplyDelete