Bite On It!

I guess I have been neglecting this blog big time! I have been extremely busy minding my  demanding ‘boss’ and also the long stay in KL plus my cupcakes e-shoppe as business was quite good when I was in KL.

This is a dish I concocted after our meal at one of these Hong Kong Char-Chan-Teng or eateries. Bosco soup is extremely popular among the Hong Kong people. From my understanding, this particular dish/soup has something to do with the European/Portuguese influence. It tasted very much like the minestrone soup.

Normally these eateries or restaurants where this soup is served, they will use macaroni but I am cooking for little boss so I used the Alphabets noodles instead.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Alphabets noodles (boil in a separate saucepan)
• 2.5 cups Water
• 1/2 stick Carrot (cubed)
• 1/2 stick Celery (cubed)
• 1 Onion (cubed)
• 1 Tomato (removed seeds and cubed)
• 15g Silveryfish
• 2tbsp Tomato puree/paste (NOT ketchup)
• Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

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Methods

1. In a medium saucepan, saute the onion first with some oil. Then saute the carrot, celery and tomato cubes till fragrant and add in the Silveryfish and stir for a while.
2. Pour in the water, stir till it starting to boil and add the tomato puree. Let it boil for a while.
3. Drain the alphabets noodles and pour into the tomato soup and continue to let it boil for a further 5 minutes or so. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Sprinkle some dried herbs before serving.

For some quick healthy alternatives, I do make some simple and easy to boil soup. It’s not those double boil soup where you need to boil for more than 2 hours. These, usually called  ‘kuan-tong’ or simply translate to ‘heat up the soup’ in Cantonese.

What I normally do for such dish is to have some ingredients for the soup base as these type of soup do not requires spare ribs or chicken pieces. I substitute with dried anchovies and some soy beans. These two ingredients give the soup some nice sweet taste.

And most of all, it taste good and takes very little time preparing!

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Ingredients

• 1.5L Water
• 30g Dried anchovies (debone)
• 50g Raw soy beans
• 1″ Ginger (sliced)
• 1/2 block Silken tofu (cut into small cubes)
• 2pcs Fu-chock (bean skins)
• 10g  Wakame (Japanese seaweed)
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Methods

1. Heat up stock pot with a little oil and fry the ginger slices till fragrant before adding the dried anchovies and stir a bit. Then slowly add in the water and soy beans and bring it to boil. Bring down the heat to small and let it boil for 30 minutes.
2. Remove all the ingredients (dried anchovies, soy beans and ginger slices) and leave the soup to continue boiling.
3. Add in the silken tofu, wakame and fu-chock and stir till they are soft.

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Most of us have seen the dried cordycepts but not many have seen the fresh and fake ones. The dried ones looked like dead caterpillars but the raw ones don’t really look like one except for the sectioned body.

I’ve seen the actual plant of the fresh fake cordycept in Cameron Highlands but have never seen those that grew the dried ones. The dried ones which come from China is very costly but the fresh ones is rather cheap. I found them in Tesco and saw some of the stalls in the markets sell them too.

It is said that the cordycepic acid from cordycept Sinesis found in the dried cordycepts can relax the bronchia and strengthen the adrenal glands. They are normally used as health supplement food thus the high price.

Dried Cordycepts - Image taken from here

 Fresh Cordycepts

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Ingredients

• 250g Fresh fake cordycepts
• 2.5L Water
• 300g Spare Ribs or Chicken pieces
• Some Wolfberries
• 8-10pcs Red dates

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Methods

1. Heat water until boil and add in the spare ribs or chicken pieces and let it boil for a few minutes.
2. Toss in the cordycepts and red dates and let it come to a boil before switching the flame to low. Boil for 1.5 hours.
3. Add in the wolfberries before you switch off the fire.

I do not know about raw shan yào or huái shan until my mom showed it to me one day last year. In fact I’ve never even heard that there are raw ones being sold here. According to my mom, shan yao is quite popular among the Japanese.

We normally use the dried ones which we categorized it as herbs. I’ve used the dried ones to boil soup before. However, the raw ones taste even better as it is so much sweeter than the dried ones. The roots actually taste very yam like and it’s soft after the long hours under the fire. I was told to add in the shan yao last into the soup so the nutrient will not be lost over the intense heat… not sure how true but I still prefer to boil it for a longer period.

The one I bought was from China hence it is so much cheaper. If I were to get the one that imported from Japan it will cost me a bomb for a small stick. One thing to be aware of is to not touch the raw roots with your bare hands as the gluey and slimmy thing will cause your skin to itch. So, when you are handling these raw roots, remember to put on your gloves.

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Ingredients

• 300g Spare ribs
• 1 stick Shan Yao root
• 10pcs Red dates
• 2.5 L Water
• Salt to taste

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Raw Shan Yao roots

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Methods

1. Sliced off the skin and wash thoroughly before slicing diagonally around 8mm thick. Be sure not to hold with your bare hands as the sticky slimy stuff could cause itch.
2. Boil water in a pot till boil. Throw in the spare ribs and let it boil for 5 minutes.
3. Add in the sliced shan yao and red dates and boil on low heat for 2 hours . Add salt to taste before serving.

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A few years ago, I don’t ever remember seeing this roots being sold in our markets. However, gobo has make its way into our markets recently after the cheaper version was being imported from China. Gobo is one of Japanese food and it was said to have plenty of nutrients. And if you have notice, the Chinese herbalists have been using this particular root as a type of herbal called niúpángzi.

I did not know about this particular root until about 2 or 3 years back when my mom introduced it to me. I find the taste is very clear and fragrant. Great news to all breastfeeding mommies, I’ve just found out gobo is a type of food that helps with lactation!

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Ingredients

• 1 stick Gobo roots - sliced slanted
• 300-400g Spare ribs
• 2.5L Water
• 10pcs Red dates
• Wolfberries (a small handful)
• Salt to taste

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Raw Gobo

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Methods

1. Boil water in a large pot. When boiled, add in spare ribs.
2. Boil the spare ribs for about 5 minutes, add in the sliced gobo and red dates.
3. Boil soup for 1.5 - 2 hours on low heat.
4. Add in the Wolfberries when about to switch off the gas.

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