I was lamenting to hubby one day that it must have been moons since I last drank Harm Choy Tong (Pickled Mustard Cabbage Soup in Cantonese) as my mom had stopped cooking that at home for years. According to one sinseh, this pickled mustard cabbage is bad for her knees. Sighhh...
One day, we were eating at Fock Kee. Hubby asked me how come I didn't order Harm Choy Tong hahaha... I said I can make them myself. Moreover, Fock Kee serves complimentary soups for dinner :p. So the next day, I went to the market to grab some harm choy, tomatoes, soft tofu and some lean meat. I'm gonna use the guan tong (quick boil soup) instead of the poe tong method which required longer hours on the stove. Apparently, there are 2 types of harm choy, one is for stir-fries that I noticed it's darker in colour and have leaves on them. The other type that looked like this is meant for soups. Hmmm yum yum...
Easy peasy to cook this. Mince the lean meat and marinade with some soy sauce, white pepper, a dollop of sesame oil and a wee bit of corn flour. Set aside.
Wash and soak the harm choy for a while, I did mine about 10 mins. Do not need to soak too long, otherwise the harm choy will not taste intense. In a pot of boiling water, chuck in the harm choy and quartered tomatoes. Do not add in too much tomatoes if you do not like it too sourish. Boil for about half an hour (might need longer if the harm choy are thick) or until the harm choy is cooked throughly, else it will still taste errrr kinda salty and pickled.
Next, form the minced meat into balls using a spoon and drop them into the soup. Let them cook thru. Carefully pierce the bottom of the soft tofu container with a needle (before peeling off the cover) so that it can slide out perfectly onto a plate. Gently rinse with water and cut into large chunks. Taste the soup now and adjust with salt if needed. Slowly slide in the tofu chunks and let it boil for about 2 mins and turn off the fire.
Scoop into a bowl and drink to your heart content! Well, I did... very satisfying indeed.
p.s.: BTW, it's almost virtually fat free, well aside from whatever contained in the lean meat!
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oh yum! it's so cold here today. That will be perfect.
ReplyDeleteAwesome..!! thanks for sharing.. :)
ReplyDeleteHey...this is my all-time favourite soup lah! ahaha..I can drink a whole pot of this. It's nice that you actually put meatballs in this one. :p
ReplyDeletewhat i wouldn't give to have a bowl right now.. when it is raining outside and so cold in the office...looks absolutely heavenly...
ReplyDeletesounds like something to try very soon. and i am so happy to learn your tip on how to remove tofu from the packaging without it going to pieces!
ReplyDeleteLoves this, loves this. Maybe I will try and make a healthier version though ("Even healthier? How can?") with fresh cabbage or a mix of fresh and preserved... whaddya think? :)
ReplyDeletedaphne & yozora, a bowl now would be perfect cos its super cold in the office now.
ReplyDeletemamabok, can find such vege at your place?
2superheroes, since boil soup so i just use some meat balls instead of pork bones, healthier too ;-)
tracy, but it won't guarantee the whole piece come out perfectly each time :p but most times it does
kenny, you try first then tell me ok or not :p hehehe
This is really good. I love this dish.
ReplyDeleteI happened to surf by your blog and I cannot help myself to comment on your blog. The photos on your blog are beautiful.
Alexander
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex
oh boy.. night in hungry, I find wrong page.. hm.. so nice.
ReplyDeletehungry man at nihgt from Pekanbaru
oh yes, ham choy tong! heh totally forgot about this. been always rotating the same soups only.
ReplyDeletewhats the english / malay translation of ham choy, not the direct english translation (pickled mustard cabbage) ? dont recall seing it in Tesco.
oooh i remember this. how i miss this soup. takes me back. mum makes this best! x
ReplyDeleteLove the look of this! I will have to attempt you version of it - sounds like a perfect starter soup, with all those ingredients in them.
ReplyDeleteAh, harm choy dao fu dong, ha foh.
ReplyDeletethanks Alexander & Hendrawan
ReplyDeletelouyeh, i've no idea of the local malay/english for harm choy :p hmm i remember seeing them at supermart/hypermart. try harder.
;) diva, mom's cooking the best
have fun hazza
ya ka simon? i pakai minum only :p
i thought hav to use assam also?
ReplyDeletemy mom very paranoid with using preserved vege 1..she will boil over just to make sure its safe to eat..
i can only imagine how intense it is..
yes joe, some people will use one sour plum but since i dun stock up on them, can omit actually. not significant to me in this soup. actually i oso hardly use preserved vege :p
ReplyDeletehow can dont have sour plum... tak sah...
ReplyDelete