Collagen Stock 胶原蛋白汤底

Last week I shared a container of my homemade jello-like collagen-rich stock on Instagram and Facebook and had many people asking how it was done.

I was kinda taken by surprised as I thought many already knew how to do it. I have been making bone stock since my kids were toddlers, mainly using it as a base to make porridge or noodles for them.

I would make it large quantity and freeze them in individual containers and in ice cube trays meant for cooking. I will leave a bigger portion of the stock, kept in the fridge for the week too. This portion of broth in the fridge will turned jello-like when it's cold.

Since there are so many request for this, I will share how I do it in this post.

Basically there are 2 types of stock I made.  One that gives a yellowish clear broth, which requires about 4 hours of simmering. I usually use this to make porridge or vegetable soup.

The other type of stock will require a much longer cooking time, at least double the time required of the stock mentioned above or if possible, longer. It will also require a higher heat compared to the former in order to break down the marrow, calcium, minerals, etc, from the bones into the stock, hence turning it milky and opaque. I use this to make soup for my ramen.

My suggestion to make a slightly more than 3.5 litre broth requires 2 big pork bones, 2 chicken carcass and an optional 8 chicken feet for additional collagen to a pot of 5 litres of water.

I simmered it for the first 5 hours on the lowest heat and turn the heat slightly higher for the next 3 to 4 hours. You can stop cooking after 5 hours and still get the jello-like stock but it won't be milky and there won't be much 'sticky lip' effect from drinking soup make from the stock.

Whichever way you choose, it is very important that you always remember to blanch the bones first before making the stock. Otherwise, you will get a much darker stock instead of the clear or milky stock.

I usually place all the bones into a big pot with enough water covering all the bones and bring it to a boil. Once it start boiling, scum will form on the surface. Remove and clear the contents. Give the bones a rinse and add them to a fresh pot of water and begin to start making the stock.

Remember to keep skimming away the scum that forms on the surface during cooking so you get a clear stock.

Drain the stock from the bones and let it cool before you store them in the fridge or freezer. Once the stock congeal into jello-like form, you can use a spoon and to easily remove all the fats on the top, if you like.

At the end of all the hard work, you will be rewarded with a stock that is filled with collagen and minerals. It is rich and gelatinous and is good for making a bowl of soup, porridge or noodles, etc for your loved ones.

Additional Notes:

• You can add vegetables and or herbs during the cooking too.
• Use a pressure cooker if you have one to cut down the cooking time.
• Never add salt to the broth. Do it only when you use the stock for further cooking.

Cream of Asparagus 芦笋奶油汤

I bought a pack of Asparagus not realising that I already have a pack at home. As I'm the one one eating it, I find turning it into soup is the fastest way to finish it.

I made this last Saturday for breakfast.  So glad that my daughter loves it.  Now I don't have to only make Mushroom Soup for her. There's another option and more to come, I come.  No luck with my son though even bacon was used. :/

It's an easy and yummy 'hulk' soup that you got to try. :)

Ingredients:

• 200g Asparagus, chopped into sections
• 1 small or 1/2 medium Onion (not shallot), diced
• 4 strips Streaky Bacon (optional), diced
• 1 Litre Chicken or Vegetable Stock
• 50ml Cooking Cream
• Salt and Pepper to taste

How to do it:

1. Fry streaky bacon till brown.
2. Remove the bacon bits leaving the oil in the pan.
3. Saute the onion till soft.
4. Add in the asparagus and cook for 5 mins (shorter time if you are using Thai Asparagus).
5. Add in the stock and bring to a simmer.
6. Continue cooking till the asparagus is tender.
7. Blend till it is smooth.
8. Add salt to taste.
9. Stir in cooking cream.
10. Thicken with some corn flour mixture if you like.
11. Serve.

Note:

• I'm using streaky bacon to try covering up some of the taste of asparagus to make it more acceptable for kids. You can use 1/2 tablespoon butter instead.
• If you do not wish to use corn flour to thicken the soup, you can use double cream instead of cooking cream.
• Cooking cream can be replaced with Whipping Cream too.

Chicken Soup with Shark's Cartilage 鲨鱼软骨鸡汤

I hesitate for a long time before deciding to share this recipe.  Why?  Because it involve Sharks. Yes, sharks.  I realised anyone sharing anything about eating sharks (fins) gets lots of flaming.

I'm not trying to go against environmentalists out there who are against eating Shark's Fin and promote eating it here. Like I mentioned before in some of my posts, I will not encourage eating it but will not reject it if it's served to me. It will be a waste of food, whether or not if it's Shark's Fin. 

Just a thought here.  Maybe if we all start eating Shark's meat like what we used to do, the fishermen will not just harvest the fins and throw the remains back into the sea.  Shark's meat was my father's favourite. I remembered eating it very often when I was a child. My father often cooked it with Black Fermented Bean.  Even the Lor Mee I had when I was a child was loaded with the soft and sweet Shark's meat. I do not know when the wet markets stopped having Shark's meat for sale. Finding shark's meat is even harder than Shark's Fin now. :P

Anyway, if you are still thinking of flaming me or send me hate mails for this post, please do the same for those who are sharing about Foie Gras too.  It is cruel how the geese are raised and fed, all for its liver.  No?  BUT, Foie Gras remains a delicacy and is much loved by many.  Not much petitions to stop eating Foie Gras around leh.  Well, not as much as Shark's Fin.  Everybody is still happily eating it. :P  Not very fair to the geese, you know.  Likewise for any other animals which are raised in harsh environment so that the farmers can get the most of them. :P  They, the farmers, are the ones who needed the 'education'.  ;)

For me, I just want to share a collagen rich recipe here. Not to start a food war or anything. If you don't like what you see, you can just leave.  And don't waste time sending me hate mails or comments. I get lots of those before.  Doesn't affect me much nowadays.  Just go spend your time usefully somewhere else.  Thank you.  ;)

Please note that this soup is for those who are very patient.  You need at least 4 hours of simmering to to turn the cartilage into gelatinous/jelly like and the soup milky.  The cartilage shown in the pictures here had only be simmered for 2 hours (just so you can see how it's going to be like half way into cooking).  You can see part of it turning jelly like.  You won't be seeing much of the cartilage or rather the shape of it after 4 hours.

Ingredients:

• 1 large Shark's Cartilage
• 1 Chicken Carcass
• 10 Chicken Feet
• 2 Chicken Drumstick
• a handful Wolfberries
• a slice of Ginger
• 3 litres Water

How to do it:

1. Blanch shark's cartilage, chicken carcass, feet and drumstick.
2. Add all the above, except drumsticks, and ginger into a pot of water.
3. Bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer.
4. Simmer for 3 hours before adding the chicken drumsticks.
5. Continue to simmer till the shark's cartilage turn gelatinous/jelly.
6. Add in the wolfberries and cook for another minute.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Serve.

Note:

• I add chicken drumstick at a later time as I'll serving it with the soup. If you just wish to serve the soup without any meat, you can omit it.
• You may use other parts of chicken instead of drums if you wish.
• Please eat whatever gelatinous cartilage that has not all melted into the soup and not just drink the soup only. It's packed with collagen

Seafood Noodles Soup 海鲜面汤

This is my idea of a lazy meal. Everything can be prepared ahead to be served later.

For busy people out there, I suggest this preparing earlier and keep the soup stock hot in a thermal pot. Heat it up and at the same time blanch the cooked seafood in the stock to heat it up before serving.

Ingredients for Soup Stock:

• 2 litre Water
• 3 Chicken Carcass (2 if your chicken carcass is big), blanched
• 2 piece Dried Sole Fish 扁鱼干, deep fried till golden brown
• 1 tablespoon Mince Garlic
• 4 Shallot, chopped or sliced

Seasonings:

• 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon  Chicken Powder (optional)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Additional Ingredients:

• 600g Flat Yellow Noodles, for 3 to 4 servings
• Seafood of your choice
• A bunch of Choy Sum, cut into sections.

How to do it:

1. Prepare all the seafood that you will be using by cleaning and/or cutting them into smaller pieces.
2. For prawns, peel the shells leaving the heads and tails intact if you like. Retain the shells for stock.
3. Have a small pot of water boiling.
4. Add a pinch of salt.
5. Blanch all seafood till just done. You can do it in batches; not all at once.
6. Do not not over cook the seafood.
7. Strain and set seafood aside.
8. Sieve the stock and set aside to be used later.
9. Add a tablespoon of oil in a pot.
10. Stir fry garlic and onion till fragrant.
11. Add in the prawn shells and stir fry till all turned red.
12. Pour in the reserved seafood stock, if using, chicken carcass, fried sole fish and water to make up 2 litres.
13. Bring stock to a boil before reducing to a simmer
14. Simmer for an hour.
15. Add in the the seasonings.
16. Stock is now ready to be used.
17. To serving, boil a pot of water.
18. Blanch some Choy Sum before blanching about 150g noodles.
19. Drain and place in a bowl.
20. Place previously prepare seafood over the noodles.
21. Pour hot soup stock over.
22. Serve with coriander and red cut chilli if desire.

Note:

• If you are not going to eat the vegetable stems, add them to the stock for simmering. They add sweetness to the stock too.
• If you want more soup, increase the amount of water used and adjust the seasonings to your taste.

{ Dinner Time: A personal serving of Hot and Spicy Soup } 简易酸辣汤

My husband travels once or twice a month for work. When he is away, I usually cook simple one-pot dinner for me and the kids.

During a day on his last trip, I decided to cook some dishes to go with rice, mainly because I found big short-neck clams selling at a mini mart, and they are the kids' favourite.

I had this terrible craving for Hot and Sour soup for days due to the hot weather. Hence, I cooked a small portion of it for myself. (Yes, I bothered to do that! :P)

There isn't soup for the kids, so I cooked the clams in broth, which I will be sharing the recipe. There is lots of sauce for the Steamed Cod too. So no problems for the kids to go with their rice. Then I realised, no greens! Opps!

This is a very simple cheat Hot and Spicy recipe that I'm sharing, just to curb my cravings. ;)

Ingredients:

• 500ml Chicken Broth
• 1 tablespoon Black Vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• Salt to taste
• Cornflour Mixture (thickener)
• Chilli Oil

A small amount each of the followings:

• Chicken Breast meat, cooked and shredded
• Black Wood Ear aka Black Fungus, shredded
• Bamboo Shoots, shredded
• Carrot, shredded
• Shitake Mushroom, sliced
• Tofu, cut into strips

How to do it:

1. Bring broth to a boil.
2. Add in the ingredients except for the tofu.Put all the shredded ingredients in the broth.
3. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the vinegar, light soy sauce and pepper.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Add in the tofu and continue to simmer for a minute.
7. Gradually add in the cornflour mixture to achieve your desire thickness.
8. Add some chilli oil and serve.

Note:

• I usually use ground black pepper but I ran out of it so I used white pepper powder instead.
• Adjust the amount of black vinegar according to your liking.
• The ingredients used and the amount used for the soup are to your preference but Black Fungus, Bamboo Shoots and Mushrooms are a must for me. They add the crunch for the soup.

{ Birthday Meal: Rice Vermicelli in Double-Boiled Chicken Soup with Abalone Slices and Egg } 鲍鱼鸡汤面线

It was my husband's birthday and usually during on birthdays, we get to eat Rice Vermicelli or Mee Sua as it symbolised longevity. Egg is a must too. I have a very typical traditional Chinese husband (old fashion :P)

For the soup, I had a blanched chicken in 1.2 litre of water steaming for almost 4 hours. This was only possible for me since I'm using a steam oven. Great thing too as I was really busy on that day itself too. You can using a double boiler to do it to. I don't own one so I usually, I would simmer over low heat if I'm not using my oven but that requires monitoring.

What to you have on your birthdays? My mother used to cook this for me on my birthday too. I'm looking forward to the day someone's cook this for me on my birthday again. I'm old fashion too. :)

Assorted Mushroom in Clear Clam Soup 什菇蛤蜊清汤

This is one of my daughter's favourite soup. She loves mushrooms and clams. Okay, She loves the clams more than the mushroom.

I couldn't get short neck clam (花拉）so I got the regular white vienna clams (拉拉）instead. The fussy little eater could tell the difference and did a bit of complaining. =_=|||

Ingredients:

• 400ml Dashi Soup Stock or Water with 1 teaspoon instant Dashi Powder
• 300g Clams
• 3 slices Ginger, julienned
• 1 tablespoon Sake
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Light Soy Sauce to taste
• Assorted Mushroom (I'm using Enoki, Shimeiji and Shitake Mushrooms)

How to do it:

1. Soak clams in salted water to let it 'spit' out sand.
2. Steam clams for 10 minutes or till are slightly opened.
3. Discard those that remain closed.
4. Remove clams and set aside
5. Sieve and reserve liquid from steaming the clams.
6. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil.
7. Add in the reserved clam juice and the rest of the ingredients, except salt and light soy sauce.
8. Bring it to a gentle boil.
9. Season with salt and light soy sauce.
10. Serve.

Note:

• I prefer using short neck clams (if available) than white vienna clams as the former is sweeter.
• Steaming the clams helps prevent having clams that are bad in the soup, thus having to throw the whole soup away. It also help filters any sand/dirt that was not expel out previously from the soaking.
• Amount of mushroom used depends on your liking.

Simple Sliced Fish Soup 鱼片汤

I'm doing less cooking lately due to the bad haze conditions. Even with the windows and door closed, we are still able to smell the smog.

PSI hits new all-time high of 401 yesterday and if I'm right, the reading was an average of 3 hours' readings. Which means, PSI should be higher. :o

I was a torture to cooked in an enclosed area. It was hot, stuffy and I had problems clearing the air at home after cooking without opening the windows. So, it was simple cooking for me for the last few days.

I'm glad the kids didn't complain too much. They do not want Bee Hoon or noodles so it was rice with Fish Soup.

Ingredients:

• 500g Snakehead aka Toman 生鱼, sliced.
• 2-3 slices Ginger, shredded
• Pepper and Salt to taste

Soup Stock:

• 150g Ikan Bilis, preferably split and heads removed as they will turned bitter if boiled too long
• 50g Soya Beans
• 1 piece Dried Sole Fish 扁鱼干
• 1.2 litre water.

How to do it:

1. Rinse and dry Ikan Bilis and Sole Fish.
2. Toast or deep fry Ikan Bilis and Sole Fish till lightly golden brown.
3. Remove and remove excess oil using paper towel.
4. All the toasted ikan bilis and sole fish with soya bean to the water.
5. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and continue to simmer for half an hour or till ikan bilis turned opaque.
7. Strain the soup stock and it's ready to be used.
8. Scoop some soup stock to a sauce pan.
9. Bring to a boil.
10. Add in a few slices of fish and some shredded ginger.
11. Cook for a minute.
12. Season with salt.
13. Add pepper, sesame oil and coriander if you like and serve.

Note:

• You can use Batang or Garoupa too if you like.
• You can add vegetables to it too. I have added canned button mushroom which is the kids' favourite.

Yellow Noodle Soup with Prawn 鲜虾面汤

During one of those days that I ran out of ideas on what to cook, this will be it. :P

My parents used to make this using chicken and dried shrimps as the soup base.  So it's Noodle Soup with Chicken. :P  My husband hates dried shrimps so my recipe omits that. Instead, I use chicken bones, prawns shells, Choy Sum stem (since noone except me likes it) and sometimes with a few dried scallops.

I usually make the soup stock first and keep it hot in the thermal pot. When we are ready to eat, just blanch the noodle then add in the soup. Easy. :)

Ingredients:

• 400g Flat Yellow Noodles
• a bunch of Choy Sum, cut into sections
• 8-10 medium Prawns; depending on how many prawns you want to serve withthe noodles

Soup Stock:

• 2 litre Water
• 2 Chicken Carcass, chopped into 2
• 2 clove Garlic, smashed

Seasonings:

• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Saute the garlic with a little oil till fragrant.
2. Blanch chicken carcass to remove scum.
3. Add chicken carcass and garlic into a fresh pot of water.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Add prawn and cook for 30 seconds.
6. Remove and shell the prawns.
7. Set the prawns aside and return the prawn heads and shells to the pot.
8. Continue to simmer for at least an hour.
9. Add in the choy sum stalks if you like.
10. Cook till stalks have softened.
11. Drain the soup stock.
12. Add seasonings to taste.
13. Keep in hot in a thermal pot if necessary.
14. When ready to eat, boil a pot of water.
15. Grab some noodles and blanch in boiling water.
16. Drain the noodles.
17. Place some choy sum in a bowl then pour the blanched noodle over.
18. Top with previously cooked prawns.
19. Pour over hot soup stock and serve.

Oden 关东煮

This is my third and final dish that I will be sharing from last Friday's dinner.

Although this is a very simple dish, almost like instant soup dish, it has always been my favourite. It's one of the items that I will eat when I visit the Japanese Restaurant, Kuishin-bo.

Oh, I have to state here that this is not the traditional Japanese Oden. I'm only doing a replica (on the soup base) of what I had in Kuishin-bo. The ingredients for the Oden used are from a Yong Tau Foo stall. You can go ahead and get Konyaku, Kabocha, Tsukune, etc for a more authentic Oden. ;)

I'm using instant Hon Dashi Stock Powder to make Dashi. You can make your own Dashi by using Kombu and Bonito Flakes.

Ingredients:

• 1 Daikon/White Radish, top removed, skinned and cut into 1 1/2cm thick
• Assorted Surimi like, Imitation Scallops, Chikuwabu

Ingredients for Stock Base:

• 750ml Water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Hon Dashi Stock Powder
• 2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 tablespoon Sake
• 1/2 tablespoon Sugar

How to do it:

1. Soak prepared daikon in water for half an hour and drain.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
3. Add the daikon and boil for 2 minutes and drain.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the stock base by bring all ingredients required for the base to a boil.
5. Add daikon to the stock base.
6. Let it simmer for an hour or till daikon is tender and opaque.
7. Add in the rest of the surimi items.
8. Continue to let it simmer for 15 mins or longer if you prefer.
9. Dish out and serve.

Cheesy Meatball Soup 芝士肉圆汤

I was clearing some cheese and decided to use it on meatballs. I usually fried the meatballs but I wanted to do minimum cleaning, hence, I used the meatballs to make soup instead.

I'm not sure if people are acceptable with having cheese 'in' soup. I'm odd I guess. I kinda like it.

Ingredients:

• 100g Minced Chicken
• 100g Prawn, shelled and minced
• 100g Fish Paste
• 3 slice Cheese, cut into 4 pcs each
• a tablespoon Cornflour
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 litre Chicken Stock 
• Coriander and/or Spring Onions, chopped (optional)

How to do it:

1. Mix chicken, prawn and fish paste together.
2. Add chopped coriander to the paste if using
3. Season with pepper and salt.
4. Add cornflour and mix well.
5. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of paste onto your (clean) oiled palm.
6. Take a piece of cheese, cut it further into 4s and stack up.
7. Push cheese into the middle of the meat paste.
8. Fold in the paste so that it covers the cheese stack.
9. Shape it with your palms.  
10. Gently drop into boiling stock.
11. Bring soup to a simmer.
12. Cook till meat balls are well done.   
13. Add salt to taste.
14. Served with a dash of sesame oil.

Minestrone Soup with Garlic Toast 蒜茸土司配意大利杂菜

Minestrone is one of my favourite western soup. Usually I will add macaroni in it for my second meal and that makes a very filling meal. I'm using french loaf here to make the garlic toast as it will soften when it's dipped into the soup and it soak up the soup better then  bread or bun.

I have shared both the recipes for Minestrone and the Garlic Bread here before. For easy reference, I'm re-posting the recipes with minor tweaks for both recipes.


Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

• 1.2 litre Chicken Broth
• 2-3 tablespoon Tomato Paste
• 1 stick Celery, diced
• 1 Potato, skinned and diced
• 1 Carrot, skinned and diced
• 1 Onion, skinned and diced
• 5 French Bean, diced
• 4-5 leaf Cabbage, chopped
• 2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Pepper and salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Heat a little oil and saute onion and celery till slightly soften.
2. Add in potato, carrot, french bean and cabbage.
3. Cook for a minute.
4. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for pepper and salt.
5. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
6. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes till vegetables are tender.
7. Season with salt and pepper.

Note:

• Size of the veggies used, ie, potato, carrot and onion, depends on your preference. If you not going to eat much of the veggies, get smaller size veggies.
• Add more tomato paste if you prefer the soup to be to be thicker.

Garlic Toast

Ingredients:

• French Loaf, sliced
• 4 tablespoon Butter, Soften
• 16 clove Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Dried Parsley (optional)

How to do it:

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Cut the base (hard part) of garlic, leave the skin on.
3. Toast slice french loft and garlic for 12 mins.
4. Remove and set aside to cool.
5. Squeeze the garlic out from the skin and smash into paste like.
6. Add the garlic to the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
7. Spread on toasted sliced french loaf.
8. Toast for 10 to 15 mins.

Note:

• Pre-toast the french loaf to make it dry so it will stay crunchy.
• Time required depends on how thick the slices are.
• Toast it again if you feel that it's still soft in the middle.
• Store un-used french loaf in air-tight container till stated expiry date.
• You can grate fresh garlic into paste like instead of toasting it if you like.
• You can also mix some Parmesan Cheese to the Garlic Mixture.

Seafood Egg Drop Soup 海鲜蛋花汤

 Something easy that I cook very often. It's a very versitile, quick and easy soup. You can change the ingredients if you like.

The idea here is to stock up of homemade stock so you can always have home cook soup in minutes. You can always get store bought stock if you are really hard pressed for time.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 litre Chicken Stock
• 2 Egg, lightly beaten
• 1 small can Button Mushroom, sliced
• 1 handful Frozen Pea, thawed
• 5-6 stick Imitation Crab-stick, cut in 3 pieces each or sliced length-wise
• Pepper and Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Put all ingredients except pepper and salt, in a pot.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Stir in beaten eggs.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note:

• You can also stir in corn flour mixture to thicken it too.

Lotus Root Soup with Peanut 花生莲藕排骨汤

As mentioned in one the the earlier post on #cookforfamily, I'll be sharing the soup that I have prepared for that meal.

This is one of the family's all time favourite soup. I'm pairing the Lotus Roots here with peanuts. Another of our favourite pairing is with Cranberry Beans (珍珠豆).

I'm re-posting this recipe here as the older post I shared some time back is missing the photo. :( Blogger got hungry and 'ate' up the photos in my blog from year 2006 to 2007. I still have a year's posts that's missing the photos which I'm finding time to add them back to the post.

If you come across posts, especially post from the 2 years mentioned, you will see a blank black patch. There's no problem with your browser or my blog. It's just missing. :/

Enjoy this soup while I find time to reload the missing photos. ;P

Ingredients:

• 300g Pork Ribs
• 1 section Lotus Roots (about 400g)
• 80g Peanuts
• 1 pieces Dried Octopus
• 8 Dried Red Dates, pitted
• 1.8 litre Water
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water for 5 min then remove.
2. In a new pot of water, add in all ingredients except salt.
3. Bring it to boil and turn down fire.
4. Continue to simmer for 3 hours.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve.

Mushroom Egg Drop (thickened) Soup 双菇蛋花羹

This is an simple and quick soup especially for mushroom lovers.

Enoki Mushroom in soup is my daughter new found love. :P Previously, she will only eat it if I made Crispy Enoki Mushroom.

She pours this over her rice to turn it into Mui Fan (绘饭). =_=||| Well, as long as she likes it, she can have it anyway she wants it.   

Ingredients:

• 1 litre Chicken Stock
• 500ml Water
• 500g Crab Meat, defrost and drained (optional)
• 1 pack Enoki Mushroom, roots chopped, cleaned and separated into small bunch
• 8 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, sliced
  
• 1 Egg, beaten
  
• 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
  
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
  
• Salt to taste
  
• Corn Flour Mixture To thicken the soup

How to do it:

1. Bring the chicken stock and water to a boil.
2. Add in crab meat and sliced shitake mushroom.
3. Bring to a simmer till mushroom has cooked well.
4. Add in the enoki mushroom and cook for a minute.
5. Season with Chinese cooking Wine, oyster sauce and salt to taste.
6. Add some chicken powder if you like.
7. Thicken with corn flour mixture.
8. Turn of fire and stir-in beaten egg.
9. Serve with or with black vinegar.

Shark's Fin Melon with Cordyceps Militaris 虫草花顿鱼翅瓜汤

One of my son's favourite soup is Shark's Fin Melon Soup and my daughter's orange soup, Cordyceps Militaris Chicken Soup.

Here, I combine both their favourites. Cordyceps Militaris makes the soup extra fragrant and sweet. This is one of the few soups that they both like. Usually, when one of them like a certain soup, chances are, the other one hates it. =_=|||

You probably know what I'm going to say next. "I have weird kids." :P

Ingredients:

• 500g Shark's Fin Melon, skin and seeds removed and cut into smaller pieces
• 250g Pork Ribs
• 1.5 ltr Water
• 15g Cordyceps Militaris 虫草花
• 2 tablespoon Wolfberries 枸杞子
• 8 Dried Seedless Red Dates 红枣
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch pork ribs.
2. Place blanched pork ribs in a fresh pot of water.
3. Put all ingredients, except wolfberries and salt in a pot.
4. Bring to a boil before reducing to a simmer.
5. Simmer for 3-4 hours.
6. Add wolfberries during the last hour before end of cooking
7. Add salt to taste.

Cream of Chicken 奶油鸡汤

I was hungry one night and decided to make myself a bowl of Cream of Chicken with the homemade Chicken Broth I made earlier that day.

It occurred to me that I had never shared my Cream of Chicken recipe. This recipe here uses flour to make it creamy and thick, which is very similar to an old recipe I shared on Cream of Mushroom.

So here's my recipe for Cream of Chicken ...

Ingredients:

• 350ml Chicken Broth, homemade or instant
• 40g Butter
• 30g Plain Flour
• Salt to taste
• Some pre-cooked Chicken Fillet, chopped or shredded (optional)

How to do it:

1. Melt butter in a pot and at the same time add flour gradually.
2. Mix well to form a roux (cooking till dough-like).
3. Add chicken broth gradually while stirring.
4. Keep stirring till roux has blend in well with the broth and that it become creamy.
5. Bring to a gentle simmer.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Serve with chopped or shredded chicken.

Asari Miso Soup蛤蜊味噌汤

This is a combination of clams in clear soup and miso soup. It is one of the soups I love to order when I dine-in at Japanese Restaurants but tried not too because it's not worth it. :P

I'm using instant dashi powder here for the stock. You can get kombu and bonito flakes to make your own dashi stock. The recipe can be found HERE.

Ingredients:

• 400ml Dashi Soup Stock or Water with 1 teaspoon instant Dashi Powder
• 200g Clams, (short neck clams were used here)
• 1 tablespoon Miso paste or to taste

How to do it:

1. Scrub and clean clams.
2. Soak the clams in the salted water for an hour to let the clams spit out any sand.
3. Put dashi soup stock and clams in a pot and bring to a boil. 
4. Reduce to a simmer and skim off any foam. 
5. Drain the clams from the stock and discard any clams that did not open.
6. You might want to filter the stock to remove any sand from the clams that were not removed during initial soaking.
7. Return the stock to the pot and bring it to a gentle simmer.
8. Dissolve the miso paste in the stock and turn off the heat.
9. Place clams in bowls and pour miso soup over.
10. Serve.

Note:

• If you find the extra steps (5-7) troublesome, just pick up the clams that remain closed and continue with step 8.

Short Neck Clams in Clear Soup 日式蛤蜊汤

I loveeeee clams in clear soup served in Japanese Restaurant but the clams are so miserable after charging so much for a portion. :/

Do you know it's super easy to make it yourself at home. ;)  Yes, I always say that :P but it is really easy. Trust me and you have have as much clams you like in the soup. :D

Ingredients:

• 12 Short Neck Clams or any other Clams (Short Neck Clams are sweeter)
• 1/2 to 1 packet Enoki Mushroom (optional)
• 3 slices Ginger, julienned
• 140ml water
• 1 teaspoon Dashi Powder
• 1 tablespoon Sake
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Light Soy Sauce to taste

How to do it:

• Soak clams in salted water to let it 'spit' out sand.
• Steam clams for 10 minutes or till are slightly opened. 
• Discard those that remain closed.
  Remove clams and set aside
• Sieve and reserve liquid from steaming the clams.
• Meanwhile, bring water to a boil.
• Add in the reserved clam juice and the rest of the ingredients, except salt and light soy sauce.
• Bring it to a gentle boil.
• Season with salt and light soy sauce.
• Serve.

Note:
I did an extra step of steaming the clam to make sure all clams are good. I don't want to risk having a clam that is bad cooking in the soup. It happened to me before and I had to throw away the whole soup. :( This extra step also help filters any sand/dirt that was not expel out previously from the soaking.