Winter Melon with Chinese Almonds Soup 南北杏冬瓜汤

My mum is a Cantonese so from young I am used to drinking Cantonese-style soup. To bring out the full flavor of  Cantonese-style soup and enjoy soft tender pork ribs we always cook the soup for at least 2.5 hours. I am still practicing this way when I cook on weekends, however for weekday the soup needs to be less time-consuming. So in order to achieve that I have replaced the pork ribs with anchovies.

 南北杏冬瓜汤，清凉润肺止咳喘 

Although lately it hasn't been so hazy but I believed that we had lodged in a fair amount of particles into our lungs during the hazy period when PSI shot up to 400. Brewing some cooling beverages and soups will help to relieve the heatiness and sooth our throats. Winter melon is good in relieving heatiness, it has a cooling property and the Chinese almonds will benefit our lungs and throats.

Ingredient

1 piece of winter melon 400-500g

1 carrot

Handful of dried anchovies (rinsed and put inside soup stock/filter bag)

1 honey date

6 red dates

3 tsp sweet Chinese almonds (nan xing)

1 tsp bitter Chinese almonds (bei xing)

Salt to taste

 Method

1) Bring a pot of water to boil.

2) Cut winter melon into cubes and slice the carrot.

3) Add all ingredients (except for salt) to the boiling water and boil for 5 mins.

4) Reduce flame to medium-small, cover the lid and cook for 30-40 mins.

5) Add a pinch of salt to taste.

Other dishes I have cooked to complete the meal, stir fry bayam spinach with egg and bulgogi.