Recipes - Black Bean Pork Soup

Today I made the infamous Black Bean Pork Soup.

Saw it on a chinese programme that provides special information on traditional chinese remedies.

I forgot what it was suppose to do, but the soup was so simple. I remembered there are only 3 ingredients that are necessary.

1) Pork
2) Black Beans
3) Gou Qi or WolfBerry

*Word of Caution: Water is required for the soup!

I used about 250grams of pork. I choose a pre-packed sliced pork because it meant that every part could be eaten. As I am conscious about avoiding fats in animal products (and I do try to cut down on animal proteins) I used the bare minimum amount of meat I have to. If you are a meat lover, you can try to have those spare parts that are supposed to be used for cooking soup. Or you could even replace with other forms of meat such as mutton. Chicken may be substituted but it is normally not used for Chinese soups because the meat and bones soften easily and is not suitable for boiling soup that requires long cooking hours or double boiling.

But to try the soup, any type of meat will do :)

For the next ingredient, you can buy the Black Beans in either dry or canned form:














In my recipe, I used about 120gram of the Black Bean. Or about 2 cups of it.

I understand from some website that these beans are considered "heaty". But it was not mentioned in the Chinese program and I do think the type of cooking determines if it is heaty or not. I read that it is also a major ingredient in those "nutritious food" meant for pregnant or ladies in confinement.

It is a great source of fibre and plant protein.

The last ingredient is the Gou Qi. It is funny but I always cannot remember the Chinese name of this ingredient. It is about 3/4 cup. I rather you proportion this to 1/4 the amount of Black Beans you are using.

From the Wikipedia, the Wolfberry or Gou Qi looks like this.



And this is their natural form (still on the tree). They do look like some of those poisonous fruits that I had been warned from young. So I suggest to get these from shops and do not try to pluck them from the natural woods or forest.

The Gou Qi is supposed to be good for eyes. My father even drinks tea from it (He adds Hot - not boiling - water to it and drinks. I think he uses about 1 tea spoon of Gou Qi per cup)

The dried Gou Qi does not require alot of cooking to soften it. In fact, soaking it in luke warm water will allow its medicinal properties to be dissolved in the water. But for Chinese soups, the Gou Qi is doubled boiled or put into the soup with the rest of the ingredients at the start to save the hassle of "looking after the soup". It will looked very dissolved when the soup is finally done.

This is what my soup looks like:

Notice that the Gou Qi has lost its brilliant red color.

A side view:

Another angle

As you can see, the pork is a sliced version. The Black Beans actually looks green color if you sliced it apart after cooking it.

I tasted the soup without adding any other stuff like salt or sugar. In fact, it tasted so nice that I wondered if adding anything is necessary. The soup tasted abit salty but just nice to my taste bud.

Oh! Did I mention the amount of water you need to put in? Just cover either all the ingredients or half the height of the pot that you are using. You do not need alot of water for this soup.

Hope you liked it!

*Lynspirations

Do try!