Snow Fungus Longan Soup

I had to come up with an impromptu dessert soup when my brother came over for a cooked-in teppanyaki dinner last weekend. Too late to make his favorite red bean dessert soup (best boiled in slow cooker overnight).


Since the teppanyaki which uses a hot plate to fry a variety of meats and vegetables on the dining table, is "heaty", I've decided to boil the snow fungus which is a perennial item in my fridge. It is a very cooling and extremely refreshing dessert. (especially if you drink it chilled)

The snow fungus or white ear fungus or suet yee (雪耳) contains much vitamins and minerals like iron, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus. The Chinese believes that snow fungus will nourish the lungs, heal dry cough and remove heatiness from the lungs.

When buying snow fungus, look out for the good quality ones that are pale yellow-white in color.

Snow fungus Longan Soup



40 gm snow fungus, soaked for 1/2 hour
1 tsp dried longan
150 gm lotus seeds, pitted
5 gm ginseng roots
130 gm rock sugar
4 liter water

1. Wash and break the snow fungus into smaller pieces. Discard the hard portions.
2. Rinse the rest of the ingredients lightly and put all into the pressure cooker.
3. Boil over high heat till you can see the second red indicator ring.
4. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Serve hot or cold depending on preference.

Mixed Vegetables Soup

I always stock a few packets of mixed vegetables in the freezer. These peas, diced carrots and corn come in very handy when I want to fry rice or make some salad. They can also be used in soup.


This is undoubtedly one of the simpliest soup to make. Instead of making ABC soup which consists of a lot of stuff, I decided to make a very light and easy soup today, no hassle and especially when the kids had a lot of snacks just before dinner.

Mixed Vegetables Soup


1 bowl of mixed vegetables
100 gm pork, sliced
1 teaspoon toong choy (preserved Chinese cabbage)
1 egg
1 small piece ginger, smashed
2 liter water
salt, sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper

1. Marinate the pork with salt, soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil.
2. Place toong choy, ginger and water into the pot and bring to boil.
3. Toss pork in tapioca flour and stir into stock.
4. Add in the mixed vegetables.
5. Bring to boil.
6. Break the egg into the soup and add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 is a popular Chinese herbal soup concoction in Malaysia and Singapore. Cooking this soup has hubby's reminiscence of his dad's only-one-time cooking bat kut teh from scratch where the herbs are boiled with sugar cane juice for hours to bring out the unique flavor.


Nowadays it is much more convenient because we can find instant packets of bak kut teh from the shops or supermarkets. They come in tea bags and usually consist of the following herbs:-

Angelica Sinensis (dong quai or female ginseng)当归 ,
Polyonatum Odoratum (Solomon's Seal or yoke chok)玉竹
Cinnamonum Aromaticum (Cassia or yoke kuai)玉桂
Lycii Fructus (wolfberry or kei chi)枸杞
Piper Nigrum L (white pepper)白胡椒
Codonopsis Pilosulae (dong sum)党参
Glycyrrhizae Preparata (Liquorice Root)甘 草
Ligustici Wallichii (Chuan Xiong)川芎
Star Anise八角


The hubby recently bought two different packets of Bak Kut Teh. While reviewing the instructions which say only 1.5 liter of water for each packet mix and since I have six mouths to feed with each person having two bowls of the soup, I combined the two packets together for this meal.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶


2 pkts Bak Kut Teh herbs mix
1 kg pork ribs
3 whole garlic
12 pcs dried shitake mushroom, soaked 2 hours and squeezed
1 pkt enoki mushroom
16 pcs tofu pok
1 tsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 liter water
salt to taste

1. Put all ingredients into the pressure cooker.
2. Boil over high flame till the second red indicator ring appears.
3. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Remove from fire.
5. Serve hot with rice.

ABC Soup

This is undoubtedly my children's favorite soup since they were toddlers. After drinking the soup, they would mash up the soft potatoes and season them with soy sauce. I prefer the carrots anytime. Sometimes I wonder why it's called ABC Soup, probably because it's as easy to make as ABC!


When I make this soup, I normally add in a small piece of char choy (榨菜) to mitigate the wind from the potato. (This advice was given by a Chinese acupuncturist long time ago) Otherwise I tend to get backaches after taking this soup.



ABC Soup


6 potatoes
3 carrots
2 tomatoes
2 onions
200 gm chicken bones
100 gm chicken fillet
1/2 pc char choy, preserved Szechuan vegetable
3 liters water
salt, pepper

1. Peel and cut the potatoes and carrots to smaller sizes.
2. Quarter the tomatoes and onions.
3. Put all the ingredients into the pressure cooker with 1/2 tsp salt.
4. Boil over high heat till the second red indicator ring is visible.
5. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from fire.
7. Serve hot with a dash of pepper.

Water Cress Soup

I read somewhere that the watercress is an historic British plant and has been cultivated in the spring waters in southern England long time ago, no wonder it's called sai yeong choy (西洋菜) in Cantonese! The plant has creeping, hollow, fleshy, square stems of about 40cm with many branches of lush-green, oblong-ovate leaves.



Watercress is a good source of vitamins A, C, B1, B6, K and E, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese and zinc. Its many therapeutic uses include coughs, head colds, bronchial ailments and toning the body system.

Being an aquatic vegetable, the watercress sometimes tend to have leeches clinging onto the stems. I normally soak it in water with a pinch of salt before washing. My mother taught me to always dip the watercress in boiling water first before simmering, otherwise, the soup will be bitter no matter what other ingredients you add in.

Water Cress Soup


400 gm watercress, washed and plucked to 3 inch length
150 gm pork ribs
4 pieces honey dates
6 pieces red dates
1 thumb size dried orange peel
1/2 tsp salt
3 liter water

1. Put watercress into pressure cooker pot of boiling water first.
2. Next, place remaining ingredients into the pressure cooker.
3. Cover and boil over high heat till you can see the second red indicator ring.
4. Switch to very low heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Serve hot with rice.