This amazing waterless soup is specially created by Chef Leong Chee Yeng, Chinese Executive Chef of Jade Restaurant, The Fullerton Hotel, as a tribute to Singapore.
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg watermelon, slice off the green outer skin
- 1.5 kg white cabbage, cut into 3-cm pieces
- 1 old hen or chicken, remove the skin and cut into small pieces (or ask your butcher to do it for you)
- 1 kg lean pork, cubed
- 1 egg white
- 5 g apricot kernels
- 5 tomatoes, cut into halves
- 5 g white peppercorns
- 1 stalk lemongrass, cut length-wise
- 1 stalk spring onion
- Sea salt, to taste
- Fresh silken tofu and watermelon blocks as “fireworks”, for garnishing
Steps
Add water into a pot large and deep enough to hold your porcelain pot (you can also divide into smaller individual pots). In a large bowl, mix the egg white into the meats evenly, and place onto the base of the pot.
Place vegetables and the rest of the ingredients on top of the meat and egg layer.
Cover tightly and steam for 4 hours.
Add sea salt to taste. Garnish with “fireworks” (Tofu Fireworks below), if desired.
Tofu Fireworks
Unpack a fresh silken tofu. On the side, have two basins of room-temperature water ready. Using a 2.5 cm-diameter round cutter, cut 3 round shapes into the tofu without removing the cut-out edges. Using a sharp knife, slice the tofu as finely as you can in one direction, leaving the bottom 1 cm uncut. Be careful not to cut through to the bottom. Do it all across the tofu lengthways. Gently, turn the tofu 90 degrees, and repeat the slicing breadthways. When done, remove the outside edges. Carefully lift the round tofu pieces onto your palm. Place your hand and tofu in the water and gently move your hand from side to side. Tofu will open up like an anemone and loose pieces will fall away. Place this into the other basin with clean water. Repeat with the other two pieces. Do the same with watermelon (optional).
Recipe: Leong Chee Yeng / Photo: Andy Wong/Rave Photography