Lotus Root Soup with Pueraria Thomsonii (莲藕粉葛汤)

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Angeline

lotus root soup

Lotus root and Pueraria thomsonii are very nutritious and you can simply imagine the goodness of the soup brewed with both of them!

Here’s some information about lotus roots (click here for image) and Pueraria thomsonii (click here for image):

[Lotus roots] stops diarrhea, clears Heat and improves appetite. Lotus roots contain much iron, vitamins B & C. The rich fibre content of lotus roots stimulates peristalsis and relieves constipation. Drinking 2 to 3 glasses of lotus root juice a day can stop bleeding of the esophagus an stomach (vomiting blood); bleeding of the rectum, intestines or stomach (blood in feces); nose bleeding or gum bleeding. Lotus root soup also serves similar purposes. Patients with high fever can drink it cold, while those with steady temperature should drink it warm.

~~ information extracted from here

If you are Chinese-literate, you can read this for more information about Pueraria thomsonii.

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Lotus Root Soup with Pueraria Thomsonii (莲藕粉葛汤)
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 250g lotus root (莲藕 ) or 2-3 segments of a lotus root
  • 250g Pueraria thomsonii (粉葛 - fen ge)
  • 8-10 dried red dates (红枣), soaked and pitted
  • 250g pork ribs
  • 3 chicken breast bones/ chicken carcass
  • 2-3 litres of water
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Remove the skin of the lotus root and Pueraria thomsonii and cut into slices and chunks respectively.
  2. Place pork ribs and chicken bones in a pot of water (enough water to cover the bones) and bring the water to a boil.
  3. Discard the water (which should be full of scum and impurities) and place the pork ribs and chicken bones into a soup bag together with the red dates and candied date (optional).
  4. Put all the ingredients into a soup pot and bring to a boil.
  5. Simmer on low heat for at least 2 hours.
  6. Add salt to taste and serve.

I added salt to our portion and saved the rest as stock to cook Alicia’s porridge. I used it to cook her porridge last night and she managed to accept the new taste in the porridge! 😀 Hopefully it isn’t just a one-off performance!

For toddler’s consumption:

  • You can serve this as a soup to the toddler too instead of using it as a stock for cooking porridge. 🙂
  • If the child finds the lotus root too hard, you can shred it into strips.

Click the link for the full list of soup recipes (with thumbnails).

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Posted in Chinese Food, Food for kids, Recipes, Soups, Soups (suitable for tots), Stocks, Vegetables, Vegetables (suitable for tots) | 1 Comment

Spicy Aglio Olio

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Angeline

We had spicy aglio olio, Campbell’s Cream of chicken and mushroom soup (hubby told me to take the easy way out on the last day of the year…) with garlic bread sticks on the side for dinner. Well, I realise that I have yet to put in the adult’s version of aglio olio so here it is!

Preparing the spicy garlic oil and the prawns – still in the wok!

The spicy aglio olio’s ready!

Spicy Aglio Olio with prawns (serves 2 adults + 1 toddler non-spicy version)

Ingredients:

  • spaghetti
  • 40g garlic (sliced finely and evenly)
  • 30g dried chilli
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2kg prawns (The ones I used were going for $14/kg) – you can choose to use less prawns if you prefer and add other seafood like fish as well, something which I used to add but I didn’t have it on hand)
  • All-purpose Italian herbs (no salt added) – amt depending on preference
  • Chilli Flakes – amt depending on preference
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  1. Soak dried chilli in hot water for awhile. Remove and set aside.
  2. Marinate prawns with the herbs, chilli flakes, some of the dried chilli, a pinch of salt, olive oil and some garlic for at least 20min. Set aside.
  3. Set the spaghetti to cook.
  4. Pour in olive oil into the wok (be generous! I put about 4 swirls round the wok). Fry the garlic – you may wanna use a wooden spatula to press gently on them to help release more garlicky flavour as you fry them.
  5. Once the oil has taken on the garlicky taste, dish out a bit of the garlic oil for the toddler portion and set aside (that’s assuming the toddler doesn’t take spicy food).
  6. Pour the marinated prawns and the rest of the dried chilli into the wok.
  7. Fry till prawns turn pink – which of course means that they’re cooked. Don’t overcook them…
  8. Taste the oil to check if the spiciness of the dried chilli has been released into the oil. If not, press gently on them with the wooden spatula – that should help.
  9. Toss the cooked spaghetti in the wok and add salt to taste.
  10. Dish and serve alongside soup, garlic bread and salad (if you please).
  11. Toss spaghetti in reserved garlic oil in the toddler’s bowl. Add a pinch of salt if desired. Serve with veggies and cooked fish/meat.

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