The h2g2 Post Recipe
Created | Updated Jun 10, 2004
This week we feature a recipe from kokushibyou. We would also be happy to feature your own personal favourite recipe but do remember that you should not submit anything which may be copyright.
Send your suggestions or recipes to Shazz.
Watercress Soup
This can either be the simplest or the most complicated recipe - it depends on how much time you want to put in.
Basic Ingredients
- A bunch of watercress
- Chicken stock
- Ground pork
- Soy sauce
Basic Method
- Heat a really big soup pot over high heat. Brown the pork, breaking it
up into little bits. Drain off as much of the fat as you can. - Wash a bunch of watercress to remove any sand. Break stalks in half or
coarsely chop. Put in big soup pot with the pork. - Add enough chicken stock to cover. Bring to boil, lower heat to low.
Simmer, covered, at least 30 minutes.
If you're feeling daring and have some time on your hands and you want to
use everything, here ya go!.
Adventurous Ingredients
Use any or all of the following
- Tangerine skin
- Diced tofu
- Shitake mushrooms
- Straw mushrooms
- Bamboo shoots
- Water chestnuts
- Shredded cabbage
- Jullienned carrots
- Sesame oil
- A couple poached eggs.
The tangerine skin (preferably dried, available at Asian markets) adds a slightly sweet flavour and is not for consumption.
Adventurous Method
- If using dried tangerine skin, soak for 10 minutes in warm water before
adding at step 3. - If using shitake mushrooms, trim off stems and slice thin and add at step
three. - If using straw mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and/or sesame oil,
these get added at step three as well. Buy tinned mushrooms, shoots and
chestnuts that are pre-sliced. You only need a couple drops of sesame oil
The stuff's powerful. - For cabbage, carrots and tofu, add at the last ten minutes of cooking.
- For the poached egg, save a whole cabbage leaf and place it carefully on the
top of the soup. Bring soup to a boil, crack an egg in the leaf. Cover and
reduce heat to medium for 5 minutes or until egg is done.
What about measurments? Hah! Measuring is for wimps. Besides, I don't
know how hungry you are. Besides, common sense wins out here. Obviously,
you don't want to shred an entire head of cabbage or every carrot in the
crisper. A little of everything is good, the idea isn't to overwhelm the
flavour of the watercress.
