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Double-boiled pork shin with daikon, bamboo fungus and morels
“The pot she makes when someone needs looking after.”
Ingredientsone pot, serves 4
Method
Double-boiled (隔水燉, cooked in a covered pot sitting in a pan of boiling water). Put the ingredients in a family-sized stewing pot and pour in boiling water to just cover, seal with cling film, traditionally gauze paper, and put the lid on. Sit it in an outer pan with water reaching one third to halfway up the pot and cook for 3 hours. 竹笙 bamboo fungus goes soft quickly, so add it only for the last 30 minutes, and salt goes in last.
- Soak the morels until soft, keeping the soaking water to use, and soak the bamboo fungus then snip it into lengths.
- Peel the daikon and cut it into pieces, and blanch the pork shin (汆水, a quick boil to draw out blood and scum).
- Put the daikon, morels and pork shin into the stewing pot and pour in boiling water to just cover.
- Seal with cling film, put the lid on and double-boil for 3 hours, adding the bamboo fungus for the last 30 minutes.
- Season with salt before drinking.
Who it suits
- feeling stuffed after too much rich food
- tiredness
- anyone wanting a light tonic
Who should take care
- People with a weak, cold spleen and stomach who get loose bowels easily should go easy on it
- Not while you are taking qi-building Chinese herbs, since radish is said to break up qi
- No double-boiled tonics while a cold has not cleared (general warning across this whole collection)
- People with gout should take care, since long double-boiled meat soups are high in purines
Soup stories
A recent arrival on the Hong Kong double-boil scene. It takes its savour from mushroom fragrance rather than richness, which makes it the clear, light counterpart to all the heavier tonic pots.
From the same family
Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.