Friday, July 18, 2008

My Lo Han Guo soup

This soup meant so much to me and to my family.  The soup was taken and shared by all the family members for the last time but at the same time.  I made it for the first time when I was 12 or 13, when my father brought back home the Lo Han Gou.  He told me to boil it with pork and water cress, but I added some dried dates, dried tangerine peel and (north/south) almonds.  So for this one, during the summer season in Hong Kong, water cress is so hard to find.  So I made a carpet search from Quarry Bay to Shaukiwan for this water cress but much relieved I could find it.  No matter how much it is, I don't care.  I also bought a freshly cut "golden China ham".  The soup came out so nice after 3 hours of boiling.  I kept checking the fire and the water level and make sure it's good enough for everyone.  I carried 2 big warm containers to a far away place and serve the soup.  That's the story and the story will go on as I will tell the recipe and the key points to my nieces and nephew.

7 comments:

Thailand Club said...

yes, i understand this soup has a meaning to you and the family, keep cooking them and pass the recipe to ur niece, miss someone special then drink the soup

Stella said...

It seems that you put lots of "heart" on top of the ingredients into this soup.
Your family is really lucky.
Yes, recipe please.

Anonymous said...

Why is it difficult to find water cress (I think it's "west" "ocean" vegetable from the photo)? I see some restaurants have the water cress soup.

Man

in the sea said...

Quite a number of vegetable are not in the summer season, including water cress. Summer is for the season of melon or squash, gourd...etc. I heard from some Chinese doctors said, eating is with season. Don't eat the food which is not in that season.

Anonymous said...

My friend told me to use the figs instead of Lo Han Guo because the taste of Lo Han Guo is too strong for my kids.
From,
C-9 in LA

in the sea said...

Fig is nice too. For Lo Hon Guo, I am not sure about the taste and quality over there in CA. Anyway, choose the one who can bounce on the table lightly. That means it is not wet inside and has the "wet bitter" taste. You can put less Lo Hon Guo, 1/4 to 1/2 and then use more dried dates.

Thailand Club said...

i used both lo-hon-guo and figs to make this soup, usually just half of a lo-hon-guo with 10 dried figs together with other ingredients in-the-sea mentioned