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Ching bo leung ("clear-nourishing-cooling") soup with pork shin
清補涼豬展湯
“The pot she makes when someone needs looking after.”
Ingredientsone pot, serves 4
Dried Chinese yam20 g (5 mace)
Lotus seed20 g (5 mace)
Dried lily bulb20 g (5 mace)
Job's tears / coix seed20 g (5 mace)
Euryale seed / foxnut20 g (5 mace)
Solomon's seal rhizome20 g (5 mace)
Dried longan flesh8 g (2 mace)
Pork shin (shank)300 g
Method
- Rinse all the dried goods, and you can take the cores out of the lotus seeds.
- Blanch the pork shin whole (汆水, a quick boil to draw out blood and scum) and set it aside.
- Put everything in the pot with 2.5 litres of water and bring to the boil over high heat.
- Turn down to low, simmer for 2 hours and season with salt.
Simmered all day, with plenty in the pot.今日呢煲 · Today’s pot
Who it suits
- young and old alike
- a steady, dependable home soup
- hot weather, nourishing without being drying
Who should take care
- Pregnant women should leave out the 薏米 job's tears
- Not with a cold or a fever
- People with gout or high uric acid should go easy on long-boiled meat soups
Soup stories
The name spells out the idea. 清 clears heat and damp, 補 builds qi and nourishes yin, and 涼 means it nourishes without being drying. That balance is about as close as you get to a definition of a Hong Kong home soup, it is a must at the height of summer, and every dried goods shop sells a ready-made 清補涼 soup packet.
From the same family
Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.