Base White Fungus Soup

This is the base soup for white fungus. By adding in other veggies and fruits it'll modify the flavour and make it sweeter. Depending on the fruits/veggies you used, you can interchange figs with red dates and honey dates and pork bone vs chicken.
For the base soup, I specifically use pork neck bone because I found that pork back bone or chicken shell is not enough flavour. Since this is very basic with very little ingredients, the base is very important. Pork neck gives a lot of flavour and will help make your soup richer.
If you want to use chicken, you'll have to use several shells OR buy a mature chicken to use for the soup.

This is pretty much the bare minimum I would put into the white fungus soup. That's why I call this the Base White Fungus soup.

I'll post other variations of it later. :)

Base White Fungus Soup

Ingredients

• 1 White Fungus
• 5 - 7 Dried Fig
• 1/4 cup Apricot Seed mix (1:3 ratio for north 北杏 and south apricot 南杏 seeds)
• 1lbs of Pork Neck Bones
• 4L of water
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. Soak the white fungus for half an hour to an hour to soften and wash.
2. Rinse the apricot seed and the figs.
3. Cut all the figs horizontally in half so more flavour can escape into the soup when you cook it.
4. Pre-treat your pork bone by blanching it for 5 mins and washing the bones after the blanch.
5. Once the white fungus is soft enough to wash, gently wash any dirty that may be trapped.
6. Use a knife to dig out connections.
7. You can cut the white fungus into 4 pieces before you boil it or cook it whole and break it into pieces to eat when you're about to drink the soup.
8. Bring the water to a boil.
9. Add in the pork bones and bring the water back to a boil.
10. Throw in the apricot seed, figs and white fungus.
11. Once the water is back up to a boil, bring the heat to low or medium low (depending on your stove) so that it's at a soft boil. Let it cook for 1.5 hrs.
12. Add your salt, stir and you're done :)

Grandma's General Health Soup

One of the benefits of growing up in a large family is the variety of food you get at dinner every day.
When my grandparents lived with us, my grandma would make a different soup every day just because we can finish 1 big pot of soup every day.
This was the one soup she should make at least once on a weekly basis because each of the 4 herbal ingredients in it is good for a different part of the body!
She refers to it as upkeep of the body.

The herbal ingredients in this soup are simple ingredients that do not require you to go to a Chinese Dr to get exact measurements. So no need to worry about that.
My grandma makes soup by eyeing the amount of ingredients, so I took that and put together some more precise measurements for this post. :)
It's actually quite easy to make once you get use to it. Essentially you through everything together, bring to a boil and simmer for 1.5 hrs and you have soup.

Of course, there's many variations of this. This is the most basic version that my grandma taught me how to make.

Fox nuts - High in anti oxidant (my grandma refers to this one as good for skin)
Lotus Seed - good for kidney and spleen
Lily Bulb - good for lungs and spirit
Dioscorea Opposita - spleen, stomach and lungs

Grandma's General Health Soup

Ingredients

• 56g Fox nuts 芡實
• 60g Lotus Seed 蓮子
• 56g Lily Bulb 百合
• 4 to 5 strips of Dioscorea Opposita 淮山
• 1 to 1.5 lbs of Pork Bones (the more you add the more flavourful the soup)
• 3-5 Honey Dates
• 1 dried Tangerine Peel 果皮 (it's not just any tangerine apparently...)
• 4 to 5 L of water depending how strong and condense do you want the flavour to be
• Salt to your preference

Directions

1. If you do not want cloudy soup, pre-treat your pork bones by blanching it in water and remove the "scum" from the water before you proceed forward.
2. Bring water to a boil. 
3. Add in the pork bones.
4. Let the water come back to a boil, then add in the rest of the ingredients.
5. Once the water is at a rolling boil, then turn the heat to low and cook it on low heat for half an hour. Depending on how much water you use, you might need to cook it at medium low heat to keep a very light boil. A little more then a simmer but not a full out boil.
6. Find the honey dates and squash them so it lets the flavour out! Continue to cook it for an hour other.
7. Add salt and you're ready

Notes: A little salt will help bring flavour out. My mother in law doesn't like to use add salt so she makes a very concentrated soup instead with lots of ingredients to make up for the lack of salt.

Dried Goods for Soup

This is my first post in my Chinese Soup series.
When you start making Chinese soup, you'll start collecting a lot of different types of dried goods.
Some items like Apricot Kernels and Honey Dates are more often used then others like Dried Octopus. You will start to accumulate lots of dried goods over time. I find it very convenient to be well stocked as it requires less planning when deciding what soup to make.
Couple of things to pay attention to when you get started with the dried ingredients:

Chinese vs English names

In my soup recipes, I'll always post both the Chinese and English name that you may find on the label. My advice is to copy Chinese words because I find that sometimes the English name may vary or the English name on the label actually refers to the family of the item and not the specific thing.

For example, Apricot Kernels in the picture above both have the same English name with 2 different Chinese names because they're different from one an other! The one that says "北杏" is bitter and actually considered "poisonous" in Chinese herbal cooking, you shouldn't be using a lot of it unlike the other one! The ratio of 南杏 and 北杏 should be about 3:1. My grandma says it's even ok to make soup without 北杏. So if your soup calls for Apricot Kernels and you relied on the English name, you could have grabbed the wrong bag if all you get is one type.

Supermarket vs Herbal Shops

There are many places you can buy the herbal ingredients. You can pretty much walk into any big Chinese supermarket and there will be an aisle or 2 of dried goods for soup and for cooking. What it really comes down to are 3 things, price, quality and trust. There are some items I will grab at the grocery store because it's convenient and they are labeled in Chinese and English. But there are others that I will go to the Chinese Herbal store to get due to the nature of the item so I want to ensure high quality. Also, grocery store doesn't necessarily equate to cheaper! I've found items there that are more expansive then at the herbal store!

Finding a good herbal store is very very important if you want to get into making Chinese soups. The first herbal store I went to was very impolite and not helpful at all, the second one was really aggressive trying to sell me everything they can get their hands on. The one I go to now is the one my grandma introduced me to. She likes that particular store because the items are good quality and the owner is honest. I'm very fortunate to have my grandma introduce me, but I know not everyone can get that introduction. If you're serious about trying the herbal soups, spend a little bit of time to check out a couple of stores. Compare items from store to store to check quality, price and honesty of the people there. Helpful but non-aggressive clerks are very important when you're new to herbal items. Dried goods are not cheap! It will pay off in the long run to do research before you buy.

The other nice thing about herbal stores is the personal touch. They can teach you how to use the ingredients you're buying! There's so many ways and so many variations of different soups and dishes you can make, so it's great to talk to them and learn new methods.

Set packages vs "loose" items

You can find set packages like the one you see on the left in supermarkets and herbal stores! There's always pros and cons to everything. Soup packages are set for 1 pot of soup. So it's great if you're trying out Chinese soup and you're unsure if you want to buy so much ingredients if you may not make it again. I find some packages of soup even have directions for type of meat and/or veggies to add and how long to cook. Some don't have much info, so you really need to know the ingredients in order to use it. Some supermarket even soup packages in the refrigerator section where they have the meat and veggies all cut up with combine with packages of herbal items ready for you to buy and throw into a pot to cook!

Why you will buy packages vs individual comes down to a couple of decisions. If you're in this for the long haul, it'll cost less to buy all the individual items then these packages. Also, quality of the goods is hard to judge in these packages. Some people argue it's fine and others will argue that you'll get better items if you go to the herbal store. It's really a toss up between the 2. If you know a good herbal store, then you'll probably get better quality for the same amount of money. 

Variety is another good reason to get individual packages. Once you start making herbal soup, you'll realize there can be may variations and mix and matches of items you can use for the soup.

How to store

Now that you've spent good money on the dried goods, you want to make sure it doesn't go bad when you're not using it. Soup packages are one time use, so as long as you don't open them until you're ready to use them, you're fine.

For all the loose items, you need to keep them in a cool dried area. A cool room is the best if you have one! I don't have one so when I open a package, I will put all the items in jars to try to keep moisture out.

Generally you will not need to keep things in the fridge as long as you can keep it cool and dried. If you put something in the fridge, then it has to stay there until it's all used up. The only thing I keep in the fridge are the dried figs. Everything else is bottled or sealed in bags. The first image in this post is a shelf in my dried goods cabinet. Thank goodness for food saver to reseal packages because I don't nearly have enough jars for everything.

And that's the basics of it to get started! If you currently have nothing at all for dried goods, don't try to go out and buy everything all at once. Your wallet will cry if you do that. When you're starting up, just buy as you need. Slowly build up your collection. Your wallet will thank you for it.

Ginger Red Date Tea for Yang Restoration

Since it's season changing time, it's a good time to look at boosting your immune system.
It's a very simple tea with ingredients that have benefits to boosting different aspects of your body.
If you just read about the ingredients and what's it good for, it honestly seems like something you can drink every once in a while to boost your immune system. But with traditional Chinese medicine, there's a balance to everything so you don't want to over do it either.

My aunt in HK sent me specific date and time to drink this tea as it's the best time to restore balance to the body.
Specifically from Mar 18-22 before 11am every day.
Maybe it's a mental thing but my mom has friends that claim it works and helped boost immune system the years they drink this.
Doesn't hurt to try :)

Ginger Red Date Tea

For 1 cup

Ingredients

• 2 thin slices of ginger
• 1 large Red Date or 2 small Red Dates (seedless)
• 1/2 tsp Brown Sugar
• 1.25 Cup of Water

Directions

1. Wash and cut 2 thin slices of ginger
2. Remove seed from the red date (it's a must! or buy seedless)
3. Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to light boil
4. Turn off heat immediately and let it steep for 10 mins

And you're done :)

Super easy if you have seedless red dates already so you only have to put everything together and heat it up.

If this is too spicy for you, add a little more brown sugar.

Chayote Squash and Pork with 雲耳 and/or 木耳

The Chayote in the picture above is home grown so they might look a little different from store brought ones.
This is an other one of those dishes where there are many different variations.

The very basic of this dish is Chayote, meat, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch.
The onion, garlic and 2 types of black fungus is actually all optional.
The onion and garlic will add more flavour so I always cook with it as long as I have some on hand. But the fungus doesn't add flavour, just nutritional value.
My mother in law only cooks this dish with 雲耳
My parents likes to cook with both 雲耳 and 木耳.
I like to cook with both because I find the texture of both to be slightly different and I enjoy mixing the 2 together.

If you google the word of both types of black fungus, it'll return the same name in English! So when you go shopping, write these words down to find them both.

Chayote Squash and Pork with 雲耳 and/or 木耳

Ingredients

• 2 Chayote Squashes
• 150g pork neck 
• 1 small onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• handful of dried 雲耳 (optional)
• 5 dried pieces of 木耳 (optional)

Directions

1. Soak the dried 雲耳 and 木耳 for a couple of hours, or 30 mins in warm water.
2. Peel the chayote. Use a fruit peeler. You may want to use gloves to peel the chayote. I find it'll make my hand peel but it doesn't affect my mom in the same way. So give it a try.
3. Cut it in half. The seed is quite soft so you'll probably cut it right in half. Take the seed out. 
4. Cut it into slices like you would for apple slices. 

5. 

   This is 雲耳

   Cut the onion into strips. 
6. Cut the pork into thin strips and mix in a bowl with the soy sauce and sugar.
7. Once you're done all this, the dried 雲耳 and 木耳 should be ready for use. They should have expanded a lot. 雲耳 expands a lot more then 木耳. 
8. Lightly rub the expanded fungus to wash it. Rinse under the tap.
9. Check the back of the 雲耳 to see if you need to cut off any connection points. It should be small segments of hard white ridges. 
10. Cut it into 1 inch pieces so you can quickly and easily cook it. 
11. There usually isn't connection points on 木耳 but check and 

    

    This is the back of  the 雲耳

    cut away if necessary. Then cut into similar size as the 雲耳.
12. Heat a wok to medium heat, once it's warm add the oil, onion and garlic.
13. Once you smell the mixture cooking, add the chayote slices. Stir and let it cook at medium heat.
14. After 2-3 mins, add in the slice pork. Cook and stir. To speed up cooking time, cover for a bit in-between stir.
15. When the pork is about 80% cooked, add in the 雲耳 and 木耳
16. As usual, stir around to ensure it's getting cooked.
17. Cover and cook for another 2 mins and cover again and let it cook until the pork is done.
18. And you're good to go :)

Notes:
木耳 is firmer in texture where as 雲耳 can be softer.
Do not over cook either of them, especially 雲耳. It can be a bit slimy when overcooked so do not overcook it.

This is 木耳

Red Date Tea (紅棗水)

Dried Red Dates (紅棗) are commonly used in Chinese soups so it's always in the pantry. Besides soup, I like to make it into tea.
I find it especially helpful after that time of month or when I feel light headed and I'm looking pale (usually due to lack of sleep and my blood pressure is lower then normal).
My Chinese Dr recommended it to me when he noticed how pale I was and after a week of drinking this tea, I really did feel better and look normal rather then pale.

According to Chinese medicine, red date helps strengthens your blood. Since I have poor blood circulation and low blood pressure, he recommends using this tea to strengthen my blood.

Red Date is herbal so it's safe for anyone to drink and it's sweet!
You can also easily buy it from Chinese supermarkets or the Chinese seafood and dried medicine stores. There's different grades of Red Dates but I honestly haven't notice a difference myself.
If you don't have much time, get seedless Red Dates.
If you have the time, then it doesn't matter but removing the seeds is time consuming as the meat sticks to the seed.
The picture to the right is my current bag of Red Dates. I brought it because it's sealed in 4 packages
inside so I don't have to worry about the storage of the remaining Red Dates as much. Yes it's wasteful but I don't use it enough to justify getting 1 big package.



Why remove the seed? This is a bit harder for me to explain. In Chinese Medicine, they believe in balance in your body for hot and cold. It is said that the seed in the Red Date will contribute to the "hot" in a bad way and can throw off you off balance so you should remove the seeds.



How to Remove the Seed?
They easiest way I found was to cut a slit along the long side of the Red Date.
I cut all the way to the seed and dig in.
I use my knife to scrape the side of the seed to keep as much of the meat as possible in the date.
Just scrape on all sides and pull the seed out.

Red Date Tea

Makes 5 cups of tea Prep Time: 0 to 20 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• About 5 cups of water (I fill my Britta Jar once and use all the water there)
• 10-15 Dried Red Dates (My mom uses even more but I find this to be the minimum amount, the more you use the sweeter and more potent it is!)

Directions

1. Boil the water in a pot.
2. Once it's boiling, add in the seedless Red Dates.
3. Boil for 10 mins.
4. Let it simmer for about half an hour.

And it's ready to drink :)
You'll get a nice bit jar of tea that you can drink warm or cold.

Honey Ginger Tea

The first time I had Ginger tea was in HK after eating Hairy Crab....
Hairy Crab is considered to be very cold and many people are actually allergic to it.
I didn't know I was because it was my first time eating it...
So I felt really super sick after....surprisingly the Ginger Tea helped push back the ache for a time period until my allergic reaction broke out....

Now I drink when my tummy hurts and it helps it feel better (I think some people drink Ginger Ale and it does the same thing...but this is healthier :))

Also, according to Chinese Hot/Cold theory, since Ginger "hot/warm" it's good when you're starting to get sick with a cold too.

It's really super simple to make as long as you have ginger at home...(since I'm Chinese I always have ginger at home)

Ingredients
2 slices of ginger (medium size)
1 Mug of water (A little bit more since you'll loose some to steam)
~ 1 tsp honey or to your taste

Cut 2 slides of ginger from the root, fairly thin is fine.

Put it in a pot/kettle and fill it with your cup of water and bring the water to boil.

Boil for ~30secs and turn off the stovetop.
Let it sit there and steep for about 10 mins.



Add about 1 tsp of Honey into your cup before you pour your tea into the cup.

Stir and you're ready to drink :)

I hope it helps