What kind of food do you crave for on rainy days? Raise your hands if you are like me who would go for a bowl of hot soupy goodness? My fond memories came from my mum who usually cooked for me a bowl of hot soup bee hoon (aka vermicelli) with whatever ingredients she could find in the fridge. It would be a combination of thin pork strips, sliced fish cake, mushrooms and vegetables. And if I am lucky, there might be addition leftover marinated juicy prawns or batang fish slices.
As I started cooking in my own kitchen after marriage, I turned to a quick and easy bowl of creamy mushroom soup as my perfect companion . Recently, I also grow to love pumpkin soup as it's so bright in colour and luscious in flavour.
Sharing with you my 2 simple recipes of Chinese and Western bowl of hot soups. I hope you'll enjoy making and eating them at the comfort of your home, be it rain or shine:)
Do leave a comment here or on our @omykitchen FB page if you enjoy my sharing of recipes.
Serves 2-3 pax
Ingredients
150g Dried Bee Hoon or Vermicelli
60g Pork Fillet or Loin (thinly sliced)
6 - 8 Handmade Wantons (refer to my previous recipe - Mum's signature Chinese wantons https://www.omykitchen.com/stories/signature-chinese-wantons )
6 - 8 Tiger or Grey Prawns
1/2 Whole Fish Cake (thinly sliced)
Bunch of your favourite vegetables (I used Green Dragon Vegetables)
1L water
1 tsp Salt
1 tbs Soy Sauce
1 tsp Oyster or Scallop Sauce
1/3 tsp White Pepper
Fried Shallots for garnish
Fried Silver Fish or White Baits for garnish
Cilantro for garnish
Direction
Soak the dried vermicelli in tap water till it softens.
Marinate pork fillet with 1/2 tbps soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp corn starch and pinch of white pepper.
Clean and devein the prawns. Marinate with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 pepper and 1 tsp cornstarch.
Boil a pot of water. As it starts boiling, add in fish cake and marinated pork slices. Season the soup with salt, soy sauce, oyster or scallop sauce. Let it simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.
Add in handmade wantons for 2 minutes (if your wantons are pre-made and frozen, please cook them for a longer time at around 5 - 8 minutes). Finally, add in the fresh prawns and lastly vegetables. Season with white pepper before turning off the heat.
Serves 2-3 pax
Ingredients
500g Butternut pumpkin (coarsely chopped)
1/2 Carrot (medium size, peeled and coarsely chopped)
1/2 Yellow onion (coarsely-diced)
2 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Sweet paprika powder
400ml Homemade/vegetable stock/water
20ml Thickened cream
2 strips Streaky bacon (chopped)
1 tbs Butter
1 tbs Grated parmesan cheese
1 tbs Toasted pumpkin seeds
1 Dry bay leaf
Squeeze of Lemon
Salt & Pepper to taste
Optional
Ciabatta bread for serving
Direction
Preheat the oven to 180 -190°C. Place butternut pumpkin, carrots and garlic cloves on a baking tray. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30 -35 minutes.
Saute bacon bits till golden brown in a saucepan. Remove bacon bits and set aside. Use the leftover oil in the pan to saute chopped yellow onions. Add in the stock, bay leaf, turmeric powder, sweet paprika powder and bring to boil for about 10 – 15minutes. Squeeze a lemon before turning the heat off.
Add the roasted vegetables into a blender. Puree the mixture. Remove the dry bay leaf from the stock and add the liquid to the blender. Press the ‘Soup’ mode button and blend the mixture till it is smooth. Add in butter, cheese and thickened cream for a final blitz.
Taste and season with salt & pepper if needed. Topped with bacon bits, pumpkin seeds and a slice of ciabatta for serving.