Counter the hot weather with this easy-to-cook Chinese pear and snow fungus soup that contains sweet, cooling ingredients, such as the sugared tangerines, honey date, red dates and fresh pear.
Ingredients
- 1 piece of dried snow fungus (35 g)
- 1 fresh Chinese pear (425 g)
- 1.4 litres water
- 2 sugared flattened tangerines (50 g), rinsed
- 1 honey date (25 g)
- 2 pieces of dried tangerine peel (0.5 g)
- 1 tbsp of nan bei xing (Chinese apricot kernels, 10 g)
- 1 tbsp chuan bei (fritillaria)
- 3 large red dates, halved and pits removed (33 g)
- 20 g honey rock sugar (optional)
Steps
Soak the snow fungus for at least 30 mins. It should be fully immersed in the water. Soak it overnight if you prefer it to be much softer in texture when cooked. Use a pair of scissors to remove the hard stem ends.
Rinse the snow fungus and place it in a colander to drain excess water. Set aside.
Peel the pear, remove the seeds, slice into eight sections and set aside.
In a pot, pour in the water.
Place the Chinese pear in the pot. Add the sugared flattened tangerines, honey date, dried tangerine peel, Chinese apricot kernels and chuan bei.
Add the red dates and snow fungus.
For stove-top cooking, bring to a boil then turn the heat down to low, and simmer for one hour and 30 mins. If using a slow cooker, turn the heat to high and boil for two hours.
Optional: If you prefer the soup to be sweet, add 20 g of honey rock sugar.
ABOUT THE CHEF: Hedy Khoo is the columnist for The New Paper‘s HED CHEF which features Asian cuisine and recipes. You can follow Hedy on her Instagram account @hedchefhedykhoo for more of her culinary adventures.
Recipe: Hedy Khoo / Photo: The New Paper