Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

Soup Name: Cooling Wintermelon Soup

Traditional Chinese Name: 祛濕清熱冬瓜湯 (qū shī qīngrè dōngguā tāng)

Introduction:

A must drink for the hot, stuffy summers.  It helps cools the body, reduces heatiness and eliminates overheating.  While mildly sweet and light to taste, this is a common and very popular soup in the Cantonese soup repertoire.  There are a variety of ways to make this soup, but this is the most basic.

Ingredients:

1 pound of fresh pork shank
1 large slice of wintermelon
5-6  honey dates
2 tablespoons of hyacinth beans
5 g of dried lily bulb (or 5-6 pieces)
20 g of fu ling
10-12 lotus seeds
2-3 L of water

How do I prepare it

1. Blanch fresh pork shank in a pot of boiling water
2. Boil your soup water
3. Wash and cut wintermelon into cubes (separate skin from meat) – skin is still added to soup
4. Rinse all other ingredients in warm water
5. Once soup water boils, add all the ingredients together
6. Boil on high for 30 minutes, reduce to a simmer for another 1.5 hours
7. Serve and enjoy!
   

Any benefits?

Helps reduce heatiness in the body
Eliminates excess heat and helps cool the body

Any precautions?

• Women in their first trimester of pregnancy should avoid as it is an extremely cooling soup and may cause contractions
• Melon soups are best consumed within same day as keeping melon soups overnight or over an extended period will make the melons sour (and so will your soup!).