This Taiwan / Hong Kong author Ms Ji-Lin Wu (吴吉琳) published the 1st Edition which sold 100,000 copies. Now the 2nd Edition comes with 18 more local soup recipes for Singapore / Malaysia.
Her 150 + 18 recipes are simple to read for housewives, without too much TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) jargons. Most of the ingredients are available locally and cheap. The cooking steps are easy to follow, but as a lazy cook equipped with a French-designed (China-made brand ‘Supor’) Tefal 8-in-1 function ‘wonder’ ceramic rice cooker (S$88 available at Courts / OG), I intend to ‘automate’ the whole cooking process with its ‘SOUP’ function menu (3 hours) and ‘Preset’ Timer to make the task even easier for busy men. Ms Wu agreed with my idea, so let’s try it ! (Read my next blogs to showcase the experimental results.)
Notes:
1. Drink soup before (not after) any meal: less hungry later and eat lesser (to reduce weight).
2. Chinese believe food (hence nutritious soup) nourishes the body (qi xue 气血) for anti-ageing and prevent illnesses. To be effective, drink soup 3 times a week.
3. Never keep soup in a fridge because the harmful ‘dampness / coldness’ (湿气 / 寒气) would seep into the body through soup even after re-heating. Best consume the soup when it is freshly made and hot.
4. (Grand-ma’s Wisdom 1) To keep the leftover soup over-night: Re-heat it to a boil before bed, then store it in a good thermal pot (焖烧锅) to keep warm, leave it at rest in room temperature – do not stir or touch it! Next morning re-heat it again before consumption.
5. (Grand-ma’s Wisdom 2) Cook red bean soup
To soften bean faster, put in the soup a small porcelain (ceramic) spoon to boil together.
Why ?
The reason is physical not chemical. Small porcelain spoon withstands high heat up to 1,000 degree C, light enough to ‘dance’ with boiling bubbles and stir the red (black, green) beans, break them to release starch faster, yielding nicer ‘sandy’ (起沙) bean soup (instead of the not-so-nice clear red bean soup).
I bought 2 copies at the offer price S$16.90 each (normal price $22.90), with her penned signature, at the Popular Bookshop Launch: Braddle Height Community Center on 4 Aug 2014 (7 pm) with a cooking demo.
Savoir Vivre -> 活学活用 