Images Soup : For variety sake

Soup day in, day out. Don't you find it a challenge putting something fresh on the table daily. I do. It doesn't help when people go, "This soup again..?" *roll eyes*

I'm that ordinary cook who doesn't have a whole lot of fresh food ingredients stocked up in her little fridge, and cabinet space that will make most chefs cry. I'm that person who dream of having a Nigella Lawson kitchen one day. But for now, I make do.

One soup, one vegetable and one meat - That's my cooking rule. It's what I tell myself every time I plan the day's meal. Sometimes I make it a one-plate thing but mostly, it's two or three separate dishes with white rice.

Along the way, I've learned some simple tricks to deceive the fussy eater. It helps that I'm a genius...kidding.

This is what I do to clear the week's ingredients from my fridge especially when I have more than necessary the food items I need. I cook the same dish twice in  a week, one with a small twist to give the illusion that I'm making something totally different from yesterday.

I'm going to share with you how I handle soups. I often make clear soups intending to repeat the dish a couple of days later with only one difference. I stir in a tablespoon of evaporated milk.

Example: from clear fish ball soup, it becomes "milky" fish ball soup. Not ... same! *grin*

And that, ladies and gentleman, is my one-tip wonder. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this. I bet you have something up your sleeves too when it comes to making daily meals a less boring affair.

Fish ball soup ~ from clear to milky

Images Old Cucumber and Salted Kohlrabi Chicken Soup

Old Cucumber and Salted Kohlrabi Chicken Soup

 
It was in our Facebook group that I'd first heard of salted kohlrabi. Kohlrabi - what was it...german turnip, cultivar of cabbage ..according to Wikipedia.

Salted Kohlrabi

I've so far only included it in soups but I'm guessing it'll go great in braised dishes as well. 

It wasn't easy trying to find this ingredient. Partly because I had no idea how it would be packaged for the supermarket. I took some time reading the labels for each salted vegetable I picked up and it would have been easier to spot had it not all been compressed in little clear plastic packets. But joy, I found it!

AndDdDDdddd.. so was born this easy soup recipe.

Ingredients:
- 2 pcs whole chicken leg
- ½ medium old cucumber (remove seeds and slice)
- 1 medium red onion (quartered)
- 1 slice salted kohlrabi (rinsed and sliced into smaller pieces)
- 4 pcs dried black fungus (medium variety, soaked for 30 minutes, remove hard parts, slice into smaller pieces  if you wish)
- 1 medium carrot (cubed)
- 1- 1.5L water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 stalk spring onion (chopped, for garnishing)

The ingredients

How-to:
1) Lay all the ingredients in the pot. Pour water in.
2) Boil until chicken is tender. (One hour on medium heat did it for me.)
3) At the last stage of cooking, taste and season with salt (if necessary) and pepper. Cook for awhile longer.
4) Serve garnished with spring onions.

Slow boil

Tadaaa! Tender chicken with salted kohlrabi and old cucumber

Soup of the day..slurp!

Images Fish Maw Soup

Fish maw, otherwise known as dried swim bladders, is perfect in stews, soups or braised. It is good with wet dishes largely because it easily absorbs flavour from other ingredients it is cooked with. On its own, it is tasteless.

It is said that fish maw is rich in collagen but whether this is scientifically proven is beyond me. The ones I use for cooking are, after all, dried products.

Fish Maw Soup - Garnished with Spring Onion

Fish Maw Soup happens to be a household favourite, a potful easily gulped away in one dinner sitting! I usually cook this with a lot of pepper. It gives this simple dish a lot of punch.

Here's the recipe, if you're keen to try.

Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 70g / a small bowl of spongy fish maw
(Pre-soaked in water an hour or two until spongy. Rinse away as much oil as you can and then, slice into pieces)
- 200g chicken bone parts (I opted for chicken feet and neck)
- A handful of sliced cabbage
- 1.5L water
- Salt and pepper to taste (Optional: a pinch of chicken stock granules)

How-to:
1) Boil all the ingredients together, until the cabbages are really limp and soft.

2) Season to taste with salt, but be generous with the pepper (optional- a pinch of chicken stock granules). It is fine if you don't want it too peppery, but as we Malaysians say it, "No kick-lah" (No oomph!).

The four ingredients

All in the pot

Peppery Fish Maw Soup - Yummy!

Images Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

The wet weather has been prompting cravings for hot soup to alleviate the chilliness I feel.

I have kiam chye boey, that sour spicy "leftovers" stew, on my mind but cooking that would take three hours at least! Surely too long a wait for this poor soul....and so came about the inspiration for a shortcut, using only some of the key ingredients from the traditional kiam chye boey dish and without the long stew.

Here's what came out of the pot at the end of it all - a clear sour and spicy soup with robust flavours that zapped my senses alert. This was so delicious that I had seconds...SECONDS! Just the perfect thing to have in this cold weather. BrrRrrr...no more!
    

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Ingredients :
- 3 pcs asam keping (tamarind peel)
- 2 pcs sour plum (bottled) 
- 6 green bird's eye chili (seeded and halved)
- ½ large carrot (cut into medium cubes)
- 1 large tomato (quartered)
- 1 rib celery (chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1.5 L water
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Fried fish cakes (2 varieties - the kind for soups)
   ~ 1 palm-sized flat square piece (cut into smaller squares)
   ~ 1 rectangular roll, about 3 inches long (sliced)
- 10 baby squids  
- Salt to taste

How-to:
1) Heat oil in electrical cooker (that's what I'm using). Add garlic and give it a quick stir-fry.

2) Add tomatoes, carrots, bird's eye chili, tamarind peel and sour plums. Mix well.

3) Add water and bring to a boil. 

4) Once it boils, add the ribbed stem parts of the celery into the pot (leave the leafy parts for last).

5) Cook covered until tomatoes and carrots are tender (which was between 30-45 minutes for me because I wanted more flavour in the soup). 

6) Then, add fish cakes and the remainder of the celery. Season with salt and stir well. Lastly, add the squid. You are done when that is cooked.