Watercress Soup (西洋菜汤)
Persimmon, Pomelo, Custard Apple, Mango
Here’s the reason why I love doing my groceries at Little Saigon Market in Footscray. There, I can buy my favourite tropical fruits… and cheaply! Bananas, apples, melons and oranges at regular markets do not excite me, so I’m really glad we got this Vietnamese market in Melbourne.
A persimmon in Coles or Safeway usually costs $2 a fruit, at Little Saigon it has been sold at $2.99/kg. And have you tried pomelos and custard apples? Pomelos are like large grapefruits, only gentler, less bitter-tangy and more segmented with easily separable pulp. Gorgeous. And a good, ripe custard apple can be a wonderful dessert just on its own. Just halve it, and eat its sweet-fragrant contents with a spoon.
Snow Pea Sprouts, Watercress
This market also has all the Asian vegetables that I can dream of, including many that (even today) I still can’t recognise. But the two pictured above are some of my favourites, they sell it only on certain days depending on availability. Snow pea sprouts (Cantonese: dou miao) stir fries well with garlic, while watercress makes a wonderful soup. And for those of you who are looking for fresh pandan (screwpine) leaves for Nyonya dessert-making, you can find it here.
But let’s go into the actual recipe for watercress soup. Chinese watercress has an earthy-yet-aquatic quality that I really enjoy. The soup gives off a clean vegetable-y flavour with a good hit of wholesome, healthy greens. You don’t really need to create an actual stock when making this soup because the vegetable imparts a wonderful enough flavour. This soup is a good, cleansing support dish to many Chinese meals such as Claypot Rice and Roast Duck. And of course, it’s great for winter.
I’m not too clear about the origins of this semi-aquatic vegetable. But it’s called 西洋菜 (Western Vegetable) in Chinese, suggesting it’s a Western vegetable that has been introduced to the East. Having said that, I don’t see this vegetable featuring in many Western dishes.
There’s one important technique that you’ll need to know when making watercress soup. The water needs to be boiling vigorously when you’re adding the vegetable. If you don’t do that, the soup will be bitter.
The picture above shows two different ‘styles’ that people prefer when consuming this soup. Some of us like the watercress to be ‘fresh’ and bright green, while others prefer the muted flavour of softened watercress after prolonged cooking. I prefer the former, but when cooking that, you’ll need to know when to stop cooking. If boiled for too short a time, the freshly cooked watercress will taste unacceptably bitter.
For once, this recipe isn’t quantified and I’ll let your intuition guide you. It’s actually mum’s home recipe. I think the amount of water you need depends on how much watercress you bought. In terms of proportion, I’d use enough water to ‘float’ the watercress after it’s been boiled for awhile. And remember, a big bunch of watercress will shrink quite a fair bit after it’s been boiled in the soup.
Adjust the quantity of red dates used according to how much soup is being made. And if you prefer a bit of ‘body’ in the soup, then you’re welcome to create a stock first by boiling and then straining pork bones.
Watercress Soup (西洋菜汤)
Fill a pot with some Water, add & leave to simmer for 30-45mins till pork is tender:
A whole piece of Pork
6-10 Dried Red Dates (halved & stones removed)
Remove Pork & leave to cool before slicing into bite size pieces & return to soup.
You may also want to skim the scum off the soup surface at this point.
When about to serve, bring to a vigorous boil and add:
Watercress (discard the root portion)
Cook at medium boil until the watercress is cooked to your preference.
Keep tasting the watercress to know when to stop.
Season soup according to taste with :
Salt & Sugar
For more comforting home recipes, check out my Recipes Section.
Thanks for giving me a tour of Little Saigon! Looking forward to what I can do with my jicama. Love watercress, in my family we generally cook the same soup in the second “style”.
leaf (the indolent cook) recently posted..bramble & vine, carlton north
So that’s the English name for man kuang? I can’t wait to see what you do with it!
I love how it’s just “a whole piece of pork”. A recipe from the days when home cooks just knew how to, you know, cook. ;)
P.S. Cheap persimmons! Woot!
Hannah recently posted..Cadbury Marvellous Creations: Jelly Popping Candy Beanies, Jelly Crunchie Bits, and Peanut Toffee Cookie
Haha it’s mum’s recipe, but, really quite intuitive for any cook to follow if they use sensible guesstimates.
I love your recipe! It reminds me of those old cookbooks that say, “Add a goodly quantity of lard” or some such. Erm, what is a goodly quantity? As Hannah said, I guess people just knew how much they meant.
So funny our conversation about I don’t shop at Little Saigon that much because I want my pumpkin and turnips, and you don’t go to Footscray Market because you want manogsteens and pomelos!
Lauren aka Ms Baklover recently posted..Common Galaxia
I know! And I was almost shocked that you did not shop at Little Saigon. Hahaha obviously, it serves my Asian cooking needs the same way it serves your ang moh cooking needs. :p
I know the market so well now that I could direct a colleague (who wanted pandan leaves) to the correct row in the market that sold them fresh!
Ohhh yummm this is a Chinese soup that I like :) really like watercress even though I know not a lot of people like the taste hehe
I remember you saying you don’t like Western type fruits such as ‘apples, bananas and oranges’. I’ve only had custard apples a few time and really liked it because it was so sweet :D
Daisy@Nevertoosweet recently posted..Grand Opening – Dream Cakes Cafe
Haha, I assume watercress has a lovely taste and everyone must like it. But guess its only some of us then.
I haven’t cooked this for a long time. I will blame it on not able to find really fresh wastercress. Just bought bitter gourd and green radish yesterday, going to have a lot of soup this week :) Love soup during winter
Liz recently posted..2012 Mr. birthday surprises at Layang Layang
I bought bitter gourd last week too! Am scared to cook with it cos not done so before, but might try tonight.
How good is Little Saigon market?!? It’s a fair schlep for me to get over to the West, but I make myself go pretty regularly to take advantage of the amazing produce on offer. Their seasonal specials are pretty hard to beat :)
I’m glad you like it too. I cross the city every week to shop there. I might as well MOVE to Footscray. ;)
Oooh what a genius way to serve it in a little tea cup!!!
msihua recently posted..Wirra Wirra Wine Dinner @ Livingroom Restaurant, Malvern VIC
Haha it’s in a big Chinese soup bowl. :)
i don’t get what you mean by whole piece of pork. Can you explain
Quite simply, mum says you can use any type of pork you wish. If you like lean pork, then use a piece of that. If you prefer spare ribs, then use that. If you want the soup to be richer, then use more pork, less water.