Watercress Soup

This is one of those soups that I'm sure everyone has had in one form or another. Soups are a huge part of the Chinese diet for its nutritional value. Watercress is 'cool'; apricot kernels help relieve coughs; the luo han guo helps to remove phlegm, while preventing dry throats and lungs, and has also been found to be an anti-oxidant. My mother also claims that luo han guo is good for getting rid of bad breath.

T&T has a soup package for this, but I find that it's not enough flavour, and the price tag puts me off.

More about the fruit at ChinatownConnection and The Chinese Soup Lady


Ingredients (fits an 8L pot):
2 lbs pork bones
1 small luo han guo 羅漢果 , halved
1 tbs apricot kernels 南北杏
1 jumbo carrot, thickly sliced
watercress 西洋菜


Method:
Fill the pot with enough water to cover the bones.
When the water comes to a boil, blanch the bones for 5 minutes.
Drain the water and rinse the bones with water. Quickly scrub the pot to remove residue.
Replace the bones into the pot.
Fill the pot to 3/4 full with water, add the luo han guo, apricot kernels and carrot.
Boil for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer for at least an hour.
Before serving, add the watercress and bring to a boil.
Add salt as needed.


Comments:
The 2lbs of bones is a guesstimate. We had bones on hand, so I just used it.

It is not necessary to blanch the bones, but it improves the taste and appearance of the soup by removing excess fat, blood and bone shards. Often, crud will float to the top of soups, and you'd want to skim it off. By parboiling, you end up with a clear-looking, clean-tasting soup. Some argue that you lose some of the pork flavour, so it's up to you.

I am not sure how long you need to boil the soup for, but too many raw apricot kernels is potentially toxic. It doesn't matter if you don't eat the kernels, but I do, in large quantities if it happens to be there.

If you're going to make a smaller batch of soup, consider using only half the luo han guo. It's quite sweet.

I didn't give a quantity for the watercress because we probably use a lot more than most people since both Will and I like to eat the choi.

I only filled the pot 3/4 full to mitigate the risk of the soup boiling over.


Verdict:
Pretty hard to screw up, so it definitely gets my stamp of approval.