Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Seaweed, Pork Balls and Tofu Soup



I really like this soup because it contains seaweed which provides a distinctive flavour with its high mineral salt content and packs the soup with umami!


You can buy seaweed (laver) from Asian supermarkets. It's black with a purplish tint and dried into thick round sheets.




Pork Stock (makes about 1.5 litres stock)
1kg pork bones
3 litres water
3-4 slices ginger
¼ teaspoon (~10) whole black peppercorns
3 sprig spring onions
1 stick celery with leaves
1 carrot
few stalks coriander
light soy sauce (~2 teaspoons) and salt (~1 teaspoons) to taste




Put pork bones into a large pot with cold water and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, and skim off the fat and froth/impurities that rises to the surface. Then add in the ginger, black peppercorns, spring onions, celery, carrots and coriander stalks. Simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Add soy sauce and salt to taste. Strain.


(Skimming off fat and impurities)
(After simmering for 2 hours)

Pork Balls
300g mince pork
½ cup chestnuts, finely chopped
2 sprigs spring onion (only use the bottom third), finely chopped
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
½ tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1 ½ teaspoon cornflour
1 tablespoon water
pinch of salt and white pepper


Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Refrigerate for one hour. Form into small round balls.




Other soup ingredients
10g dried black seaweed (laver), cut the required amount into smaller pieces, wash and drain thoroughly
2 blocks of soft tofu (~200g), cut into cubes
salt, light soy sauce and sugar to taste
spring onion and coriander for garnish




To make soup


Bring stock to boil and add in the pork balls one at a time making sure that they don't stick together. Cook the pork balls for 4-5 minutes, add tofu and cook for another minute. Then add in the seaweed and boil for 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt, light soy sauce and a little sugar. Serve and garnish with spring onions and coriander.



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