UFO Soup

A long time friend of mine used to refer lotus roots as UFO as it’s design looks like a UFO when it is cut into slices. I found it a rather cute way to describe these roots.

The Chinese word for lotus sounds like the word for connect 莲 hence it is rather popular among Asians especially in weddings as it symbolise ‘lasting relationship’. Besides that, it is also a nutritional food as it is high in iron.

It is easy to prepare and the ingredients are easily found in all wet markets or supermarkets.

Though the preparation may looked simple but we still have to pay a little attention to the ingredients used. Using pork ribs or chicken will give you a slightly different taste or aroma. Should you prefer to use chicken, make sure you get the old hen (lau-mu-ji) and add in extra pairs of chicken feets to get that extra uuuummmpppphhhh!

Another special ingredient is the preserved salted vege (dried) which the Cantonese called ‘tai-tao-choy’. Usually this vege is not added if you drink this soup in restaurants or foodcourts. Somehow, to me ‘tai-tao-choy’ really give the soup a special taste and by using this salted vege, no salt or msg is needed since it is already saltish.

Next is the peanuts. This is optional but the soup taste better with it. There are many types of raw peanuts and for soup, get those small with light reddish pink skin. This partiular type of raw peanuts get soften easily when boiled so it’s suitable to be added into the soup. Remember to boil the peanuts in a separate pot for 5 minutes to wash off the red colour so the soup would not be muddy later.

Recipe (to make approximately 5 pax share)

2.5-3 L Water

400-500gm pork ribs or chicken meat

2 sections of Lotus roots (sliced)

2″ Salted preserved vege (tai-tao-choy) sliced

8/10 pcs Red dates (removed seeds)

150gm Raw peanuts (pre-boiled)

Slices of dried cuttlefish

Methods

Boil water and add in pork ribs or chicken and boil for 5 minutes. Add in sliced lotus roots and boiled peanuts and let it boil for another 10 minutes. Then add in the other ingredients and let it boil for 5 minutes. Turn fire to small and boil soup for 3 hours. Voila! Soup is ready to serve! Yummmmmmmy!

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