Modified Si Shen soup (四神汤)

Alicia hasn't been eating so well lately - ok, she picked up a bit since Saturday - so I decided to make this si shen soup. It is well-known for improving appetite and is commonly given to children with poor appetites. I think the main herb that does this is fu ling as research has shown that it strengthens the body, improves body weight and improves appetite. I wouldn't encourage parents with big babies/toddlers or babies/toddlers with an already hearty appetite to serve up this soup to your darlings as si shen soup is probably the equivalent of the Western appetizer.

Alicia guzzled down this 100ml of soup at one go last night! :D

The 四神:

Ingredients:

• 5g huai shan (淮山)
• 10g dried foxnuts (qian shi) (芡实)
• 20g fu ling (茯苓)
• 40g dried lotus seed (lian zi) (莲子)
• 250g pork rib
• 6 chicken thigh bones
• 1 soup pot of water

For added taste I added these ingredients:

• 4 dried figs (无花果）
• 3 candied dates (金丝蜜枣)
• 1 big red apple (cut into quarters)

Method:

1. Rinse the chinese herbs.
2. Blanch the ribs and bones.
3. Place all the ingredients into the soup pot and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer on low heat for 3 hours.
5. Sieve the soup and serve only the soup.

Onion and Broccoli stock

This is the latest stock for Alicia's porridge. I felt that she didn't quite like the cabbage stock (although there wasn't any outright rejection) so I decided to boil something else this time - hopefully she likes it. With nothing much on hand, I worked with what was in the pantry: two yellow onions with two broccoli stems which I had kept to throw in together with the next batch of stock - of coz all these to be boiled together with the usual stock base of chicken bones/ carcass and pork ribs.

Onion and Broccoli Stock

Ingredients:

• 2 big yellow onions (peeled and sliced)
• 2 broccoli stems (remove any blemishes and just trim the bottom)
• 1 chicken carcass
• 250g pork ribs
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 soup pot water

Method:

1. Blanch pork ribs and chicken carcass.
2. Bring the pork ribs, chicken carcass and garlic to a boil in a soup pot of water.
3. When the water comes to a boil, put in the yellow onions and broccoli stems.
4. Simmer for a few hours.
5. Sieve the stock and pack into small portions for freezing.

Cabbage Stock

This is the newest stock that I've used in cooking Alicia's porridge. Now that I'm cooking two meals of porridge a day for Alicia, I have to try out a different flavour for the second meal of porridge because the still staunchly purist Alicia eats her porridge without other ingredients. Initially I was using the corn and carrot soup (I use chicken bones and pork ribs as base for almost all my soups including alicia's stocks) for lunch and the lotus root and kudzu soup to cook dinner. However since I'm not sure if the latter stock can be consumed every day by a toddler, I decided to play safe and go with something more neutral like cabbage. Cabbage, unlike Chinese cabbage, is not liang (cooling) so it can be consumed daily. When my mum cooks this soup for adult consumption (we add a lot more other stuff in our own soups) during Chinese New Year, it is so wonderfully satisfying. Since this is for Alicia, I decided to go with the usual stock ingredients I use for her in her corn and carrot stock, which is just chicken bones and pork ribs. No dried scallops, dried shrimps, dried cuttlefish for her... :D

Alicia didn't show particular liking for the porridge. But neither did she dislike it. She ate about her usual portion so I guess that's ok? :)

Cabbage Stock

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Korean cabbage (you can use other types of cabbage. I happened to find this in the wet market that day)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 250-300g pork ribs
• 1 chicken carcass or 3 chicken breast bones
• 1.5-2L of water

Method:

1. Wash and clean the chicken bones and pork ribs. Blanch them.
2. Put all the ingredients except the cabbage in to boil.
3. Once the soup boils, add in the cabbage.
4. Once it boils again, simmer on low heat for 5hours. All the taste of the cabbage would be out in the soup by then. This is purely for stock purposes so if you are making this soup for adults, you will only put in the cabbage about an hour or so before serving so that the cabbage isn't totally tasteless!
5. Strain the stock and pack into suitable portions after it cools.

Lotus Root and Pueraria thomsonii Soup (莲藕粉葛汤)

Lotus root and Pueraria thomsonii are very nutritious and you can simply imagine the goodness of the soup brewed with both of them!

Here's some information about lotus roots (click here for image) and Pueraria thomsonii (click here for image):


Ground mature lotus root powder makes wonderful thick soup and dessert soup. It also stops diarrhea, clears Heat and improve appetite. Lotus roots contain much iron, vitamins B & C. The rich fibre content of lotus roots stimulates peristalsis and relieves constipation. Drinking 2 to 3 glasses of lotus root juice a day can stop bleeding of the esophagus an stomach (vomiting blood); bleeding of the rectum, intestines or stomach (blood in feces); nose bleeding or gum bleeding. Lotus root soup also serves similar purposes. Patients with high fever can drink it cold, while those with steady temperature should drink it warm.


extracted from http://www.chinesefood-recipes.com/food_articles/lotus_roots_medicinal_properties.php

If you are Chinese-literate, you can read this for more information about Pueraria thomsonii.


Lotus Root and Pueraria thomsonii Soup (莲藕粉葛汤)

Note: Do not use a metal pot to cook this soup or the lotus root will turn blackish...

Ingredients:

• 250g lotus root (莲藕 )
• 250g Pueraria thomsonii (粉葛)
• a handful of dried red dates (红枣) (soaked and pitted)
• 250g pork ribs
• 3 chicken breast bones
• 1.5-2litres of water
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Remove the skin of the lotus root and Pueraria thomsonii and cut into slices and chunks respectively.
2. Blanch pork ribs and chicken bones.
3. Put all the ingredients into a claypot and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer on low heat for 2hours.
5. Add salt to taste and serve.

I added salt to our portion and saved the rest as stock to cook Alicia's porridge. I used it to cook her porridge last night and she managed to accept the new taste in the porridge! :D Hopefully it isn't just a one-off performance!

For toddler's consumption:

• You can serve this as a soup to the toddler too instead of using it as a stock for cooking porridge. :)
• If the child finds the lotus root too hard, you can shred it into strips.

Stocks and Cooking porridge via slow cooker

New to cooking for your baby? Not sure where to start and how to make yummy stocks that satisfy your lil ones' tummies? Don't know how to cook (very soft) porridge for those who have just started weaning?

Fret not! Here's sharing what I used to do for my little girl after she turned 8 months old!

All you need are a soup pot (for the stocks), a tiny slow cooker (for cooking porridge), gather your ingredients and you're good to go!


Vegetable (and fruit) stock

Ingredients

• 1 deep soup pot of water
• 2 corn cobs (IMPT note: some babies are allergic to corn, so if baby develops any allergic symptoms, stop giving the stock to the baby)
• As many apples as you like (skin and seeds removed, chopped into pieces: you can leave the skin on if you bought organic apples and washed them really really thoroughly. Personally, I wouldn't risk it so I always remove the skin although it is said that the skin adds nutrients to the stock)
• Carrots (only suitable for babies above 8 months due to nitrates)

Method:

1. Boil on high heat till the water boils then simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours.
2. Sieve the ingredients from the soup and pack the stock into small portions to be frozen.

Meat and Vegetable Stock

Ingredients

• 1 deep soup pot of water
• 2 chicken breast bones (washed clean, fat removed)
• About 6-7 pieces of pork ribs (more if you like; washed clean, fat removed)
• 2 corn cobs
• 1-2 carrots (depending on the size of the carrot)
• 2-3 pieces of garlic (to 'remove' the smell of the meat)

Method

1. Put the chicken bones and pork ribs in a small pot of water (just enough to cover them).
2. After the water starts boiling, turn off the fire. This is to remove the dirt and possibly some blood from the meat and bones. Remove the chicken and pork from the water and discard the water.
3. Clean the corn and chop it into a few pieces.
4. Peel the carrot(s) and cut into cubes.
5. Put in all the ingredients into a fresh batch of water in a deep soup pot.
6. Once the soup starts to boil, you can turn down the fire and simmer for at least 2 hours. Normally I will simmer till I have about half a pot of soup left so that the stock is sweeter. The longer duration you boil your stock, the sweeter it will be.
7. Let the stock cool and portion into small servings to be frozen for future use.

View other types of stocks/ soups here.


Directions for cooking porridge using the slow cooker
• Wash 1 tablespoon (15ml) - I used a measuring spoon - of whole brown rice grains thoroughly to remove dirt. If you're using normal white long-grain rice, you may need to add about 20-25ml of grains instead.
• Pour in three ladles of stock (about 150ml) and the rice grains into the slow cooker
• Warm the stock and grains on the stovetop till the stock is boiling hot before placing the slow cooker back to cook
• Leave it to cook for about 2hours. After 2 hours, check the consistency of the porridge in case the porridge becomes too thick and dry. (If it does become too dry, add some hot water to it and let it cook for a little while.) the consistency of the porridge should be mushy enough for beginners to porridge