Snow Pear Soup

by wiffy on March 10, 2011

in Asian,Chinese,Chinese Soups,Fruits,Recipes

Snow pears with Chinese almonds, snow fungus and pork ribs soup

I learnt this soup recipe from my buddy Anemone. We were having lunch one day when she told me that she was making this soup for dinner, and to cut a long story short, I probed incessantly about how she made it until I finally fished the recipe out from her :p This is a light tasting and thirst-quenching soup which is perfect for our hot climate as snow pears are known for their cooling properties. Chinese almonds and snow fungus are said to boost health benefits such as improving blood circulation, strengthening respiratory system and aiding weight loss. If you prefer a sweet dessert version of this soup, check out my papaya, snow fungus and almonds dessert 木瓜雪耳糖水 recipe.

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Snow Pears

Snow pears (pictured above) are used in this recipe as they are sweeter and boost cooling properties. If you can’t find them, you can substitute with other types of Chinese pears.

Ingredient: Chinese Almonds 南北杏

Ingredients
(Serves 2)
- 250g pork ribs
- 2 large snow pears 雪梨 (about 300g each), peeled and cored, cut to large chunks
- 10g snow fungus (aka white jelly fungus, white wood ear, silver ear, 雪儿)
- 1 tsp bitter almonds (aka Northern almonds/北杏) and 2 tsp sweet almonds (aka Southern almonds /南杏) – see cooking note 1 below
- 8 pitted red dates
- 1.2 litres water
- sea salt

Directions
1. Soak snow fungus in a bowl of hot water (covered) for 15 minutes, then carefully discard water. The white fungus should become puffed up and turn a whiter shade. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, trim and discard the hard part on the centre underside of the fungus. Cut the rest of the fungus to smaller pieces and set aside.
2. Blanch pork ribs in boiling water for about 5 minutes, to remove the dirty bits so that you have clear soup later. Rinse blanched pork pieces and set aside.
3. In a soup pot, add water, pear, red dates, blanched pork and Chinese almonds. Bring to a boil and then simmer (with lid partially closed) for about 20 minutes.
4. Add cut fungus and continue simmering for another 20 minutes. Season with sea salt.

Cooking Notes
1. Bitter almonds in its raw state are said to be toxic if consumed in large amounts. Even though these almonds are cooked, do not add too much of it to be safe (1 tsp is more than enough to me). You can also substitute with sweet almonds if you are more comfortable with it.