Spare Ribs-Lotus Root and Red Bean Soup-排骨蓮藕紅豆湯

On Cantonese dining table, there's one thing Cantonese must have on their table, soup! There are many types of soup and different types for every season. In the hot summer time, Cantonese like lighter soups- like fresh veggie soup, clear herb soup, melon soup, fish soup etc.

In the cooler weather, they like richer flavors and stronger soup. They like dry veggie soup, chicken herb soup, bone soup, and long simmered soup(at least 3-6 hr) sometimes even longer! So, soup on a Cantonese dining table can't be missed and it has become a part of the Cantonese culture. Like my Ma alway said, "Three dishes, one soup, and you can have as many bowls of rice as you want" "三餸一湯，白飯任裝” or in Mandarin "三菜一湯，白飯隨便盛” Lol!!

Let's COOK!

Ingredient 

• 11/2 lb lotus root( peeled and chuncked)
• 1/2 rack spare rib back ribs(chopped an inch length) 
• 1/2 cup red bean (soaked) -if you don't like red bean, raw peanuts work as well-
• 10 slices ginger

You can find these ingredients at your local Chinese Market.

Soak the red beans in water to start the rehydration. This will give them a nice soft texture at the end of the cooking process.

Lotus root?? 

It sounds very exotic to some but don't worry, it's not a scary thing. It's actually more common than you think when it comes to flavor. You can prepare similar as you would a potato or a yam- fried, sauteed, baked etc. It has these very interesting and unique patterning in the inside of the lotus root. You will notice this immediately once you slice into it.

So let's cut this guy open...

Use a peeler to get the outside skin off. Trim off the ends of each side.

Cut it in half lengthwise. 

Then cut those halves in half lengthwise again.

Cut them perpendicular to the the previous cuts to about an inch or so. 

Once done, set this aside while we prepare the precook for the ribs....

In a pot/pan, bring half pot of water to boil, then add in the ribs

Cut the ribs into cubes. This will make serving and eating the soup easier as a person can essentially eat this with just their spoon and mouth (instead of using two hands to hold it and eat it).

Let it boil 5 mins to cook off the dirty stuff and fat from the ribs. Drain it And set it aside

This par cook will remove any bone debris and help remove the excess fat on the pork. This will keep the final soup broth more pure and less greasy.

In a large crock pot, throw in all the goodies and fill it up with water (enough to cover the meat and  the lotus root). Let it cook about 1hr 30 mins on high mode, then 1hr on low mode.

The pork will start to release the rest of the oil towards the end of the process. So we must skim the fat off the top...

The meat will start to release the rest of its fat and oil from a long cook so use a scoop/spoon to skim out some of the excess oil from the top of the soup.

Once skimmed, the soup will look similar to this color. If you notice only a few bubbles of oil at the top, you did a proper job skimming off the excess grease (because otherwise, it'll look like an even layer of oil spread evenly across the soup).

Then add salt for taste.

All the rice I can eat??? Deal!

Soups served family style is a staple part of Chinese homecooking. Share this delicious recipe with your friends and family.

That's it, Spare-Ribs Lotus Root and Red Bean Soup 排骨蓮藕紅豆湯 Enjoy it!


Coming up next!
-Cantonese BBQ Pork-
-蜜汁叉烧-

Micah 7:18
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

彌迦書 7:18
"有何神像你，赦免罪孽， 不追究產業之餘民的過犯呢？ 他不永遠懷怒， 因為他喜愛憐憫。