Chicken and Rice Soup with Choy Sum (菜心雞湯飯)

Guys. I'm obsessed. I don't use that word often but for today's post, I just think it's appropriate. Two things that I'm obsessed with for the past three months: A Chef's Life, and chicken and rice.

The PBS show A Chef's Life reminds me a ton of how I grew up in the countryside of Hong Kong. It also reminds me of how my mom used to run our family restaurant back when I was younger as I watched and helped her prep in the kitchen. By learning about the South from an agriculture and lifestyle perspective, I came to realize that the way of life of the Hakkas and people from the South share a lot of things in common. If you remember reading my Hakka heritage post a while back, I talked about the fact that many Hakka families, like mine, were raised around farming and the countryside. I think the South is beautiful and Southerners truly know how to appreciate food because they understand the work that goes into each grain of rice and each slice of meat.

The Hakka cuisine is also very similar to Southern cuisine with lots of fresh, seasonal, hearty, rustic, and flavorful meals. And it is, too, very regional. I've never lived in the South or know all that much about Southern cuisine other than what I've learned on A Chef's Life and Mind of a Chef with Sean Brock so I can't say that the typical ingredients found in Southern cooking are the ingredients used in Hakka cooking but basics are there. I was delighted to learn that many Southern dishes also celebrate pork as much as the Hakka cuisine does.

Lately, I've been taking Vivian's mom Scarlett's chicken and rice recipe and adapting it into a tong faan (湯飯), which means rice soup in Cantonese. When I used to live with my mom, we would have tong faan often because it's just so damn simple and it's so comforting on those cold winter nights. She would save the pot liquid from boiling choy sum (a leafy green in the mustard family), and we'd fill our bowls with rice then pour the hot vegetable broth into the bowls. It's really that simple. And, of course, dinner would be served with a few other dishes as usual. Tong faan isn't something you'd actually get at a restaurant but it's a comfort food that you'd enjoy at home. And don't mistake the Tong faan with congee or rice porridge (jook) which is much thicker and creamier and often eaten as breakfast in many Asian cultures.

Chicken and Rice Soup with Choy Sum (菜心雞湯飯)

Prep time: 30 mins  Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins  Total time: 2 hours

You'll need:

• 1 organic whole chicken, about 4lbs
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 3 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
• 1/2 bulk garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
• 1 1/2 cups white rice
• 1/2 lb chopped [i]Choy Sum[/i]
• 3 stalks chopped scallion

Approach:

1. In a large stock pot, put in the chicken, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and white pepper. Fill water up to one inch above the top of the bird. Cook on medium heat for about 1 hour or until the meat has started to fall off the bone. Turn off the heat and let the bird sit in the broth for another 30 minutes. Remove the whole chicken, and discard bay leaf and thyme.
2. Debone the chicken and tear the meat into small pieces.
3. Bring the broth back on medium heat, and add the chopped onion and rice. Let it cook for 8 minutes then add the chicken back in the pot along with the chopped choy sum and scallion. Let it all cook for 5 more minutes until the rice has cooked through but not broken. Stir and check the rice frequently.
4. Serve immediately.

Notes:

Resist rinsing of the rice as the starch will make the soup richer.

Adapted from Scarlett's Chicken and Rice.

Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup with Watercress

Ahhh. Soup. I seriously cannot live without it in the winter! (Did anyone enjoy this week's arctic blast here in NY?... didn't think so.) Chicken noodle soup is one of my favorite things to eat especially during these cold, dark winter days. I wanted to do something a little different and unexpected so I put a Chinese spin on this classic soup!

You know, growing up, soup was served almost every night along with dinner. Although, Chinese soups tend to be much more brothy and are eaten as health supplement rather than full-on meals so it never seems "heavy". After all, Chinese dinners are all about having a well-balanced diet, and soup completes a meal quite nicely.

This chicken meatball noodle soup with watercress has pretty much everything a healthy meal could offer. And why not get an upgrade from a traditional chicken noodle soup when you can have it all?! Watercress (西洋菜) is a very common ingredient in Chinese soups and it's got some really great health values (apparently it's really good for the flu or cough!). Besides soups though, I really haven't cooked anything else with watercress before. Do you like watercress? What are some of the things that you like to make with it?

To make this soup, you'll learn how to roll/form meatballs with spoons. And trust me, it's not rocket science, just needs a bit of patience and time! Is it technical? Naaah. You've got this - it's actually quite fun! And just to add some more texture, I added egg-drop-soup-style eggs! Now, here's to a complete meal - cheers! (or should I say.. Slurp!)

Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup with Watercress

Prep time: 30 mins  Cook time: 40 mins  Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 4

You'll need:

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1-2 cups chopped watercress
• 2 cups wide egg noodles
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp salt
• Meatballs:
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, grated
• 1/2 cup chopped watercress
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Approach:

1. Rinse and drain watercress thoroughly. Chop it by hand or use a food processor.
2. Bring the chicken broth and water in a stock pot until it starts to boil, then turn the heat to low.
3. In a bowl, mix the first seven meatball ingredients together. Add chicken then breadcrumbs.
4. Once the chicken broth is ready, use 2 small tea spoons to form meatballs by first scooping a small lump of the meat with 1 spoon, then passing it back and forth between spoons a few times. Try to make them as round as possible but doesn't need to be perfect. Carefully drop each one into the stock pot until all the meatballs are in. (Meatballs will sink to bottom at first but will raise as they're done being cooked, and will float up top.)
5. Add the other chopped watercress and salt, and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Beat the 2 eggs, then stream them into the soup slowly while stirring with a ladle.
7. Add the egg noodles last, about 10 minutes before serving, to make sure they don't get overcooked.
8. Top with oyster or saltine crackers (optional).

Oxtail Soup

This is a classic dish my mom used to make all the time. It's a very simple dish to prepare and cook. I just love the aroma of the soup that fills the air, and kindly reminds me of my mom's cooking.

There are many styles of Oxtail Soup – Korean, Hawaiian, Chinese, German, Polish, etc... And there're also oxtail stews that are usually richer and more flavorful. But what I love about this Oxtail Soup, that I have inherited from my mom, is that you can really appreciate the simple, natural taste of the wholesome ingredients. And since this is a brothy soup, I often like to add something that's more substantial to it to make it more of a full meal – potatoes or pasta (something like fusilli or rotini) would do just fine.

When you're cooking oxtail or any kind of stew meat in soups, the cook time is usually long because you want the collagens of the meat to break down slowly in very slow heat. If for some reason the oxtail meat did not turn out to be as tender as you thought, there might be a few explanations. And one would be that the meat was simply from an older ox/cow. And how can you tell if the meat is good when you're shopping at the grocery store? Well, that I'm afraid it's something that I haven't learned so I can't offer you a solution. From what I've read, searing the meats first before simmering might help to make it more tender. I gotta give that a try next time!

So beside the meat in this Oxtail Soup, the ingredients are really basic – cabbage, carrots, onion, and tomatoes.

Roughly chop up the cabbage.

Aren't these vine tomatoes gorgeous just to look at? :)

Use a BIG pot, something that holds at least a gallon.

Here's a little tip. Tomato paste is thick. If you drop a tablespoon of it into the pot, it's just gonna get lost in between all the vegetable. Instead, when adding the tomato paste, mix it up first in the ladle.

See how much easier this is?

Get ready to dig into a bowl of veggie goodness with some real tender beef!

Oxtail Soup

Makes: about 4 quarts Cook Time: 3 1/2 hour

You'll need:

• 2 lbs of oxtail
• 1 head of cabbage, chopped
• 1 16oz-bag of baby carrots (or 3-4 regular carrots)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 vine tomatoes, quartered
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp salt

Approach:

1. Heat 4 quarts of water in a big pot until boiled, add the oxtail. Reduce the heat to very low, and cook for 2 hours.
2. While the oxtail is cooking, chop up all the vegetable.
3. After 2 hours, add the bay leaves and all the veggies. Add the cabbage first (bottom), and tomatoes (top). Let it cook for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, give everything a big stir. Then, add the tomato paste by mixing it in the ladle first.
5. Add the dried basil, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
6. Let it simmer for 1 more hour.

Notes:

I like to cook the pasta separately, and add them into the soup later. This way I can make sure it won't be overcooked.

Butternut Squash Carrot Ginger Soup

Last weekend, I had dinner at Lola BKLYN with a couple of friends. I had a heavy lunch that day so I wanted something light, and that's when I had this Butternut Squash Carrot Ginger Soup for the first time. Lola BKLYN is restaurant in Fort Greene mainly focuses on American cuisine. It's got a sister restaurant close by called Chez Oskar, which offers great French dishes. Both restaurants have a causal atmosphere, and the food is just phenomenal.

Butternut Squash Carrot Ginger Soup. It's super easy to make and you really don't need a whole lot of ingredients (hint the name of the soup). Besides the ingredients, you will need a blender. That will do the second half of the cooking for you. You also don't need a whole lot of cooking skills either, as long as you know how to chop and make sure you don't forget to put the lid on the blender. Everything else would be simple to handle with one eye closed.

Butternut Squash Carrot Ginger Soup

Servings: 2-3 quarts

You'll need:

• 1 medium onion a few cloves of garlic
• 1 butternut squash
• 6 carrots
• 6 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth (chicken broth works too)
• 3 tbsp of grated ginger salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1-2 tsp of dried or fresh thyme
• optional: 1 block of medium firm tofu, 14 oz

Approach:

1. Chop onion, butternut squash, and carrots. Then mince garlic, and grate ginger.
2. Pour some olive oil in a dutch oven or stock pot. Add onion and garlic, cook until onions are soft.
3. Add chopped butternut squash, and carrots, cook until everything is tender or when you're able to poke through the squash with a toothpick.
4. Add broth and seasoning, and bring that up to a boil.
5. Let the soup sit for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, set up your blender.
6. In parts, blend the soup until smooth. *You'll need another big pot or container to pour the puréed soup.
7. Take tofu block out of the plastic container. Use a couple paper towels, gently squeezed out some of the water.
8. Cut the tofu block in small cubes, then add to soup and stir gently.