莲藕花生排骨汤 - Lotus Root with Peanuts and Spare Ribs Soup

Welcome Friends, to my new cookblog!

Just like a cookbook, it is meant to confuse you enough to make you attempt to re-create the dishes featured.

I have labelled each recipe into different categories and I might from time to time, vary the cooking methods according to seasons or if new ingredients are found :)

Let's start off with something simple... a soup

Yeah, just throw everything in can already... just remember to watch the fire.

莲藕花生排骨汤 - Lotus Root with Peanuts and Spare Ribs Soup

Serves: 4-6, or 1 for 4-6 lonely nights

Physical assets needed:

1 good deep metal pot that is not rusted, 1 ladle to scoop and stir, vegetable knife, paring knife or pen

Meats:

1kg spare ribs or mix of spare ribs and pork ribs (already butchered and with slightly bits of fat)

1 dried cuttlefish (cut into small pieces)

4-6 conpoys

Plants:
2 lotus root tubers (skinned and sliced into edible rings, between 4-5cm thick)*

4-6 red dates

200g deshelled peanuts (those used to cook soup from the dried goods section)

Condiments and Sauces:

Salt, Pepper

Light and Dark Soy Sauce

Sesame Seed Oil

Cooking wine

Stock (optional)

POTABLE WATER

Preparation method:

1. Wash ingredients thoroughly, especially if you do not want soiled soup. Root vegetables like their mud. I am a keen advocate of soaking everything in salt. It removes pesticides and chemicals that do not quite agree with our digestive system.

2. Season pork ribs with sesame seed oil (1 teasp), light and dark soya (1 tablesp), dash of cooking wine and pepper

3. Boil half a pot of water using big fire, as well as a kettle of water.

4. Use a bit of boiling kettle water to blanch the pork ribs, this apparently makes the taste less porky

5. Pour ribs into half pot of boiling water, turn to medium fire

6. Add red dates, cuttlefish and conpoy and stock (if you want) and bring down to slow fire

7. Wait for water to boil, then add peanuts and lotus roots.

8. After water boils again, top up water to brim of pot and add soy sauce or salt to bring it to taste

9. Continue boiling on small fire for 1-1.5 hours. You can also use a slow cooker if you have one. However, I find that gas stove is good enough if you cook in the morning and reheat it a few times before dinner. The soup should have just enough taste and flavour.

*You might encounter tiny roots, be patient and pluck away. Anyways, as the saying goes 藕断丝连, they can be pretty persistent. A little bit of the root skin tastes pretty good too, so wash thoroughly

Recommended method of eating:

- A decent home-cooked dinner must have soup, whether you are Cantonese or not

- Tastes better each time you bring it to a boil

- For hot days when you need the cooling effects of lotus roots