KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

//Editor's note: Topic selected and edited for Portal publication.

Thanks to kiasimom at another thread, who's inspired me to share my home-grown, traditional soup recipes, I shall start this rolling by submitting one of my personal favourites:

BIRTHDAY SOUP (AKA ABC SOUP - angmokio, bawang & c(k)entang or izzit carrots )
Ingredients:
2 carrots
2 large potatos (use the Indonesian version which is harder) halved.
1 large red onion
1 tomato (optional)
1 chicken carcass (or other bones)
Water (the right amount comes with practice. Generally, rule of thumb is in measuring using the bowls you're serving the soup in X # of people. Add 2-3 bowls extra - to factor in evaporation during cooking process)
* Make sure your pot has enough space at the top coz there'd be half an hour of brisk boiling. We don't want the soup to spill over.

Method
1. Bring the water to boil
2. Rinse the defrosted carcass or bones, drip dry (DO NOT CLEAN).
3. Add bones.
4. Add vegetables,
5. Bring water to brisk boil, turn gas stove to half. Boil for half hour.
6. Now, you can put the stove to a small boil (3 on a scale of 10) for it to simmer for another 1.5 hours. Alternatively, if you have a vacuum pot, time to transfer for cooking till time to serve.

Bon Apetit!

Me too... I love soups -- aka cantonese style -- that is, it needs to be done for at least 3-4 hours.

In the past, we used to do it over a charcoal stove in the early morning till the evening for dinner. And the taste is .... marvellicious - if there's such a word.

And ABC soup is my gal's favourite soup.

My favourite is watercress with pork ribs. Lotus with pork ribs is a must for CNY reunion dinner for us.

csc wrote:
My favourite is watercress with pork ribs. Lotus with pork ribs is a must for CNY reunion dinner for us.

Yes, csc, lotus roots - ling gnau (lin lin yau!) I love that with dried octopus - high cholestrol but yummy!

Hi Andaiz,

Thanks for sharing.
ABC is my maid's favourite soup!!!

Any soup that is good for complexion huh
wants to look pretty la

Can add some wolfberries n red dates in your cantonese soup too.

Actually I like pig's tail soup, chicken feet wif peanut soup, ox tail soup but hubby dare not challenge such soup leh

kiasimom wrote:Hi Andaiz,

Any soup that is good for complexion huh
wants to look pretty la

yes, you can have chicken bones (chicken feet included) with white fungus, add 10-15 red dates (buy them whole and remove seeds) - collagen galore...keeps the complexion supple .

my "beauty regime" (though not very often coz very "liang") is white fungus, one slice dried persimmon, orange peel (chen pi), mixed chinese almond (think it's 2/3 nan almond, 1/3 bei almond<that's the bitter one>) plus korean pear boiled whole. Use enough water to cover pear + some more for boiling off.

What you can do (if you don't want to pack from scratch the ingredients) is to buy the "cough herb" (which includes most everything except the pear) then follow the instructions plus the pear. Eu Yan San has a good one for this.

Else, can try some herbal soup like liu wei tang (luk mei tong) or si shen (sei san tong) with pork ribs and red dates.

KopiYing wrote:Can add some wolfberries n red dates in your cantonese soup too.

Actually I like pig's tail soup, chicken feet wif peanut soup, ox tail soup but hubby dare not challenge such soup leh

KopiyYing, pig's tail soup + peanut soup with chicken feet I oso like but must scoop up the oil like mad leh. (I'm a little lazy lah).

KopiYing wrote:Can add some wolfberries n red dates in your cantonese soup too.

Actually I like pig's tail soup, chicken feet wif peanut soup, ox tail soup but hubby dare not challenge such soup leh

Oh yes, I like to add wolfberries and red dates too.
I know they are good.
Wolfberries are good for eyes but red dates?

Hi Andaiz,

Thank you for the recommendations.
I will go to Eu Yan Seng for the herbs.

Where do I buy the pear? Supermarket?
How often can I drink the soup? Can the children drink?

kiasimom wrote:
Where do I buy the pear? Supermarket?
How often can I drink the soup? Can the children drink?

Yes, markets/fruit stalls do sell them too. Just tell the seller you want to "dun" the pear. My MIL has used fragrant pear before (coz no other pears at home).

WRT frequency, depends on your constituents loh. For me if it shows sign of being too liang - which is often , I'll back down. Kids can drink...my #1 loves it because it's good for the throat (run fei yang yan) while the white fungus provides good veg-based collagen. For my gals, I take out the persimmons/chen pi as it has a strange aftertaste - quite an acquired taste; but add handful of red dates and wolfberries.

If boiling in "bulk" for your DS and DD and family, suggest you cut the (include skin) and decore pear(s).

Have fun!