Wintermelon soup

Wintermelon soup has always been one of my favourite soups. It's also Cassie's favourite soup, and it's quite simple to make. My mom and my MIL makes two different versions, but I'll be describing my mom's version today.



Wintermelon soup is supposed to be best for the summer weather because it doesn't take long to cook, and wintermelon has a "cooling" effect according to my mom.

Ingredients:

1. Wintermelon, chopped into 2 cm cubes. In the supermarket, it usually comes in slices, as a whole wintermelon is quite large. Try to find a middle section, rather than an end section. At home, rinse the melon, carve out the seeds, and cut off the skin. Then chop up the melon into cubes.

2. Pork. I used some ground pork, but you can also use pork bones, chicken, ham, seafood (shrimp, scallops, crab, etc). If you do you pork bones, boil them briefly and discard the water to boil out the excess fat.

3. Chinese mushrooms. I soaked them in warm water for 2 hours, and then sliced them into small pieces. The water used in the soak can also be used in the soup, provided that the mushrooms are cleaned prior to soaking.

Method:

To prepare the soup, I boiled the chinese mushrooms and meat in a pot. I also added a bit of salt to taste, and 1/2 tsp of sugar. My mom tells me that when cooking with chinese mushrooms, one must always add a bit of white sugar as this will bring out the flavour of the mushrooms more.

Once boiling, I add the wintermelon cubes and allow to boil on medium high until the wintermelon becomes more translucent. On my stove, it took me about an hour from start to finish, not including the time to slice and dice the ingredients.

For extra flavour and for presentation purposes, one can add a beaten egg to the soup to make what my mom calls "egg flower".

My critics enjoyed the soup.

Enjoy

Chinese Wontons

For dinner today, I made wontons. My MIL makes the best wontons I've ever eaten, so I made sure that I got her method.


Ingredients:

1. Ground pork, about one pound. It's less healthy to eat pork fat, but a bit of fat makes the wontons taste much better. My MIL buys lean ground pork and ground pork and mixes it together. Today, I just used lean ground pork. Alternatively, you can use chicken or turkey. One can also add chopped up shrimp, but I didn't use any because my youngest daughter would be eating the wontons. Season with salt, white pepper, and sugar (1/2 tsp). One can add other seasonings such as hoisin sauce, but I kept mine more bland for my daughters.

2. Bok choy. Finely chopped. After chopping, place it in a strainer over a bowl, and add some salt. Allow to sit for 2-3 hours. This step drains the water in the vegetable. I bought some baby bok choy for today's wontons.


3. Black fungus, chopped. According to wikipedia, the scientific name is Auricularia polytricha. It adds a crunchy texture to the wontons. Alternatively, one can add corn instead.

4. One egg, beaten up. This is more flexible, but the egg is there to keep the meat in the wonton wrapper. I had leftover yolks from another recipe that I was using, so I used that instead.

5. Wonton wrappers.

Method:
1. Mix the ground pork, bok choy, black fungus, and egg.

2. Take one wonton wrapper. One side is heavily floured. This floured side should be the outside of the wonton. Scoop a generous teaspoon of the meat mixture, and place it in the middle of the non-floured side. Fold the wrapper diagonally in half and then bring the other two corners together to form a ball.


I always think it's better to have leftover meat rather than leftover wrappers. The leftover meat can be steamed for a nice side dish with rice. Unfortunately, I had leftover wrappers, which I wrapped tightly in plastic and placed in the freezer for next time.

Once all the wontons are prepared, I placed them in salted boiling water, one at a time and in batches. After placing them in boiling water, I stirred them briefly and then allowed them to cook. They are done once they are floating and the water is boiling again. This water is discarded and the wontons can be served in clear chicken broth.

Typically, I make more than I can eat at one time, and there are two ways for storage:
1. Uncooked, in the fridge (2-3 days) on in the freezer (2-3 months). Cook as needed.
2. Boiled until almost completely cooked, rinsed in cold water, and in the fridge. Reheat in chicken broth.

My critics enjoyed the wontons. Cassie (3.5 years) asked for a second bowl of wontons, and Adrie (1.5 years) polished off her bowl in an instant. My husband thought he was eating his mom's wontons, so I guess I did something right!

Enjoy!