Shark's Fin Melon Soup

Personally, I prefer quick boiled soups (滾湯, 'gun tang') especially those where I can add leafy greens.  But sometimes, certain soup ingredients require a simmered soup (煲湯, 'bao tang')  method to bring out its' flavour.  This soup with pork ribs and shark fin melon has to be simmered otherwise it won't be an appetising soup.  The process takes sometime but it is worth the trouble.  I simmered for an hour, the soup tasted okay.  Then, I simmered for another half an hour, OMG the soup tasted even better.  By 2 hours, this soup is really  a good 'bao tang'.

The original recipe uses shark fin melon （鱼翅瓜) but you can replace it with winter melon (冬瓜) .  The dried squids can also be replaced by dried sole. 

Just to mention, this soup is quite similar to Cheah's Shark's Fin Melon Pork Ribs Soup [No Frills Recipes], but there are slight variation in the ingredients.  Cheah uses dried fish bones and preserved dates in her soup which is without preserved salted vegetable.  I definitely try her recipe too cos' it is really easy to cook this  tasty, appetising soup.    Perhaps, I'll try with pig trotters, too [it was good too - I prepared it during CNY].

Photo from No Frills Recipe

 Ingredients

Recipe Source - Saucing Around - Jo's Deli with modifications

Serves 6 [I prepared only 1/2 the portion to serve 3]

500 gm pork ribs

900 gm shark fin melon - skinned, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

50 gm red dates

1 piece dried squid [I used dried sole]

50 gm salted vegetable (大头菜）- rinse and soak for 10 minutes

2.5 litre water

A little msg and salt to taste

1. Clean pork bones.  Boil some water in a pot to blanch pork ribs for several minutes to remove impurities.  Drain and rinse pork ribs with water to remove the scums.
2. In another pot, combine all the ingredients [except salt].  Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 1 hour or until pork ribs and shark fin melon are soft.
3. Season with salt to taste.  Serve hot on its' own or with rice.
   
   

Notes: Visit this site for It's Nutritional Facts [here]