Prawn Heads Stock Base 虾头浓汤底

In South East Asia, seafood or chicken stock are commonly used as a base to cook many dishes. In Singapore, for instance, we use Prawn Heads Stock Base 虾头浓汤底 as a base to cook local delights such as Hokkien Fried Noodles, Prawn Mee, Tom Yum Soup, Steam Boat Soup Base.... etc.

Therefore, I inculcate the habit of stocking different frozen stock bases in boxes as they'll surely come in handy when I decide to cook any specific dishes 'from scratch' instead of using store bought pastes and packet stocks. The prawn heads stock is not difficult to make. I usually collect the prawn heads in my freezer and only brew it when I have few hours of spare time. There's really no fixed rules and methods to brew the stock base. What I'm sharing here is a method that suits my home cooking style, without using extravagant ingredients. Do make your own adjustments accordingly. 

Ingredients (enough for about 2 to 2.5 litre) :

• 2 boxes of raw prawn heads and shells (lunch box size)
• 1 cup ikan bills or small yellow shrimps
• 1/2 to 1 chicken or duck carcass (frozen from leftover meals) or some poached pork meat or bones.
• 1 cup soy beans
• 8 to 10 slices ginger
• 2 mid sized onions (julienned)
• 8 cloves garlic (sliced)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise (broken into pieces)
• 3 pcs cloves
• 1 tbsp peppercorns
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 to 3 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)
• 1 to 2 tbsp gula melaka/palm sugar (or to taste)
• 2.5 litre water

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon) 

Method :

1. Heat a little oil and lightly stir fry all aromatic ingredients (i.e. ginger, onions, garlic, cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, peppercorns)  in soup pot at medium heat till aromatic. 
2. Add prawn heads, shells and ikan bilis into the pot and stir fry till fragrant. 
3. Add water and soy beans into soup pot, cover lid and allow to simmer at medium heat till boiled.
4. Upon boiling point, turn to low heat and continue to simmer for 3 to 4 hours or to your satisfied richness.
5. Turn off heat and allow stock to cool. 
6. Remove scums and strain stock before scooping into respective storage containers. 
7. Freeze till ready to use.

Note : 

The soup taste is not intense or too flavourful at this stage. I usually add seasonings to taste upon cooking as different dish would require different level of flavours and intensity. This would allow some room for adjustments upon cooking.

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ABC Soup...So Easy! 简易ABC汤

ABC Soup (ABC汤) must be the favourite soup for many adults, especially parents. It is easy to prepare and cook. More importantly, nutritious enough for their kids. Somehow, the variety of ingredients in this soup seem to appeal to many children. I rarely hear of any kid rejecting the ABC soup. 

I am unsure of the exact origin of ABC soup. There are many sayings :

• adaptation from Russian and Polish's Borsch soup
• an authentic Chinese creation
• a Cantonese soup
• got its name for sheer reason that it is easy to prepare like A,B,C
• and more....

Seriously, does it matter? To me, the taste and its nutritional benefits are good enough reasons to keep me a fan of this easy-to-make soup for a long long time....

Ingredients (enough for 4 pax) :

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• 4-5 pcs of pork ribs or loins (blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes to remove scum beforehand). Each piece about a half-fist size.
• 1 sweet corn (peeled and chopped to chunks)
• 2 carrots (peeled and chopped to chunks)
• 3 potatoes (peeled and cut to quarters)
• 2 tomatoes (peeled and cut to quarters)
• 1 large onion (peeled and sliced)
• 3 slices ginger
• 3 pcs pitted dried red dates/jujube 红枣 (use pitted red dates as the seeds are heaty)
• 2 litre water
• 1/4 pc anchovies/ikan bills stock cube (optional)(to taste)

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon)    

Method :

Add all ingredients into soup pot except tomatoes. Just fold in half the tomatoes. The other half to be added 10 minutes before serve.

Add 2 litres water into soup pot and bring to boil in high heat. Once soup reaches boiling point, turn to low heat and continue to simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours. If you are cooking in a pressure cooker like me, simmer in pressure cooker for 45 minutes at low heat. 

Serve hot.

ABC Soup 简易ABC汤 is an all time favourite for adults, as well as children. 

Bitter Gourd Pork Ribs Soup 苦瓜排骨汤

Bitter Gourd Pork Ribs Soup 苦瓜排骨汤 used to be my least favourite soup as I could not tolerate the bitterness exuded from this vegetable-fruit. Maybe I am aging or perhaps the newer breeds of bitter gourds  are no longer as bitter as they used to be. Whilst I had to rub the bitter gourds with salt to kill the bitterness in the past, I actually have problems retaining the bitterness in the bitter gourds when brewing the soup nowadays. 

Bitter or not, we cannot deny the nutritional benefits bitter gourds bring us. Briefly, we know that bitter gourds are known to lower blood sugar levels, an excellent source for Vitamins A and C, help in relieving indigestion and constipation issues etc. 

For such simple reasons, we should give Bitter Gourd Pork Ribs Soup 苦瓜排骨汤 a chance. In fact, I have gone from resisting to really liking it now....

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Ingredients (enough for 4 pax) :

• 1 bitter gourd  (washed and cut to slices)
• 2 carrots (washed, peeled and chopped to chunks)
• 4-5 pcs of pork ribs or loins (blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes to remove scum beforehand). Each piece about a half-fist size.
• 8 pcs pitted dried red dates/jujube 红枣 (use pitted red dates as the seeds are heaty)
• 8 pcs of small dried scallops 干瑤柱
• 1 tbsp wolfberries 枸杞子
• 2 litre water

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon)    

Tip : Rub bitter gourd chunks with salt if you prefer to reduce the bitterness in them.

Method :

Put all ingredients into soup pot EXCEPT wolfberries.

Add 2 liters of water. Bring to boil in high heat. Turn to low-medium heat once the water/soup hits boiling point. Continue to boil for 2 hours. 

If you are using a pressure cooker like me, set to "No.1" or "low pressure" and boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour at medium heat.

Fold in wolfberries 5 minutes before turning heat off.

Transfer to serving bowl and serve while hot.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶

New Photo updated February 2018

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 is really pork ribs stewed with variety of herbs and spices. There are primarily 3 types of Bak Kut Teh in Singapore - Hokkien style, Teochew style and Cantonese style. I can cook all 3 (without using the premix packets). As my husband is most fond of the clear soup style, I shall cover this version first.

There are fewer spices and no herbs usage in this version and requires the least ingredients, making the Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 relatively easy to prepare.

Ingredients (generous portions for 2 to 3 pax) :

• 800 gm pork ribs (chopped into individual rib pieces)
• 4 to 5 whole bulbs of garlic 
• 60 to 70 gm white peppercorns (or to taste)
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 2 star anise (optional)
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder (optional)
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp ikan bilis/anchovies stock powder (or to taste)
• water to boil
• coriander/cilantro (optional)(for garnishing)
• dark soy sauce (as condiment) 
• chilli padi (sliced)(as condiment) 
• 2 to 3 pcs of you tiao 油条/chinese dough fritters (cut to bite sizes as side dish)

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon)    

Tip : Contain white peppercorns and spices in cloth sachet so that clear soup could be scooped easily off the pot when boiled. Leave the garlic bulbs out of the sachet as we usually serve the garlic cloves/bulbs together with the soup and ribs.

Method : 

Roast garlic bulbs till light golden brown and set aside.

Roast white peppercorns till they start popping and set aside.

Blanch ribs in boiling water for 3 minutes to remove scums.

Set ribs aside after blanch.

Contain peppercorns and all spices in a clean cloth sachet.

Boil 1.5 to 2 litres water. Fold in garlic, peppercorns, five spice powder and ribs when water boils. Simmer for 1 to 2 hours at medium heat to your desired meat texture. Or 30 to 40 mins if you are using a pressure cooker. Add salt, and ikan bilis stock powder in the last 10 to 15 minutes of boil. 

Set aside You Tiao 油条/Chinese Dough Fritters to serve with Bak Kut Teh.

Set aside dark soy sauce with chilli padi to serve with Bak Kut Teh.

Transfer ribs, garlic and soup to serving bowl after 2 hours of boil. Serve piping hot.

New Photo updated February 2018

New Photo updated February 2018

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 - a bowl of goodness. You would not believe how easy it is to prepare.

Lotus Root & Raw Peanuts Soup 莲藕花生汤

If I recall correctly, the Lotus Root & Raw Peanuts Soup  莲藕花生汤 was the first soup I ever  brewed when we were newly married many years ago....And it remains as one of the favorite soups in our family.

Brewing cantonese long boil soups are really not as difficult as many think. Most of the basic ingredients/herbs are versatile. Just stock up a few key dry food items and herbs and they can be applied to various soup recipes. For instance, you would see me applying almost similar dry food  ingredients (e.g. dried oysters, dried cuttlefish, pitted red dates, dried scallops etc) in different types of long boil soups. 

What are the benefits of the Lotus Root & Raw Peanuts Soup  莲藕花生汤? If you are unaware, lotus root is really full of nutrients. Fresh lotus root is an excellent source for Vitamin C, B6, copper, iron, zinc, magnesium and manganese. It is also rich in dietary fibre. Pair lotus roots with raw peanuts, we have a winning formulae for dispelling heat, blood circulating and strengthening of body immunity.

Most importantly....this soup is delicious!

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Ingredients (enough for 4 pax) :

• 1 section of a large sized lotus root  一截莲藕 (washed, peeled and cut to slices)
• 1 cup of raw peanuts 花生
• 4-5 pcs of pork ribs or loins (blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes to remove scum beforehand). Each piece about a half-fist size.
• 2 pcs of dried oysters 蠔豉
• 2 small pcs of dried cuttlefish 八爪鱼
• 8 pcs pitted dried red dates/jujube 红枣 (use pitted red dates as the seeds are heaty)
• 8 pcs of small dried scallops 干瑤柱
• 2 litre water

(tsp = teaspoon; tbsp = tablespoon)    

Method :

Put all ingredients into soup pot.

Add 2 liters of water. Bring to boil in high heat. Turn to low-medium heat once the water/soup hits boiling point. Continue to boil for 3 hours. This is a soup that will only taste good after minimum 3 hours of long boiling. In my humble opinion, there is no short cut about that.

Serve after 3 hours (of boiling) or longer. Ever nutritious, ever good tasting....

It's so simple...isn't it?