sweet corn

Sweet Corn, Carrots and Tomato Soup

Sweet Corn, Carrots and Tomato Soup

The item on the extreme right is frozen pork ribs just in case you are wondering. This is one of my favourite no-brainer soup for those days when you don’t want to plan or worry too much about what to cook for dinner. Some families call it the A-B-C Soup in Singapore, a hearty nutritious soup that every family with a young kid would love.

The ingredients when cooked together will truly produce one of the best flavours ever. Guaranteed that you and your family will love it. All natural and wholesome ingredients – what’s not to love? The sweet corn that I used is the covered one that when you unveil, is a sweet crunchy vegetable. I was surprised how sweet it was and even sweeter if they are from the farms in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. For the tomatoes, some like the soup to be sourish, so if you’re one of those that like it like that, then add more tomatoes. So after adding all the ingredients, the soup would be already be very tasty. Just a tablespoon of salt and 12 hours of thermal cooking, it would be ready to be served.

I also loved Shiitake Mushrooms in my soups. Normally I use the dried ones as they tend to keep longer. However, my wife and son are not fans, and so I decided to leave it out.

Some of you may ask, why use a Thermal Cooker instead of a regular pot over fire? Well the thermal cooker will help tenderise the meats – kind of like a slow cooker, and everything is just more flavourful if you cooked your meals that way. It works for busy families, where you would cook the soup in the mornings before heading off to the office, and then come back to re-heat it when you’re home at night.

A pot of A-B-C Soup is just perfect with steamed rice or Maggi noodles.

Anyway, I said all that to say that this recipe is so easy to prepare. Anyone can do it. Easy until I wanna cry.

* please note that I have included amazon affiliate links to the products I use, so check them out if you wish to support me, and if I can get these items from NTUC Supermarket, I would just indicate.

Recipe

Ingredients

200 grams Pork Ribs (Indonesian pork is the best)
1 ear (haha) of Sweet Corn (better still if they are from Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, those are white in colour and very juicy and sweet)
2 medium Carrots
1 medium Tomato or up to three Tomatoes (for that slightly sour taste)
1 Tablespoon of Salt

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. Place frozen pork ribs in thermal pot. The thermal cooker that I use for this is the Zojirushi SN-XAE60 Thermal Pot, just in case you’re interested to mimic the same cooking conditions.

2. Chop the corn into 8 parts. Slice the carrots into bite sized chunks. Quart the tomatoes. Dump everything into the pot. Drop in 1 tablespoon of salt. Pour in the hot water until it covers all the ingredients.

3. Turn on high heat for 15 minutes. Make sure the lid is on, and the water is bubbling. Then turn off the fire, and place the pot into the thermal cooker itself and close the outer lid. You can serve it 12 hours later or when you’re back from work, it would be perfect for dinner.

Bon Appetit!

When Soups Get Complicated (Musing)

image

When Soups Get Complicated (Musing)

There comes a time in the extended new dawn that there isn’t much to be afraid of anymore, where vampires and werewolves are just a figment of ingenious creative writing and gnomes and goblins become neighbours. There was no prodding or shoving of any kind this morning and I naturally got up and decided that there could be a greater purpose today than what it was originally intended for.

Time to make my soup, and perhaps a little more.

Today’s complicated soup of the day (just to prove that I am capable of complicated soups that still taste decent and nice), is none other than my easy as ABC soup, but with a little more pizzazz. So a complicated soup like this, would mean something like an ABCDEFG soup. I personally think that this soup has got great potential. It carries with it all the ingredients that came from near and far, and their masters’ blessings, hopes and understanding. These ingredients would typically hold its own weight, and be staple where they may come from. Carrots from Australia, Scallops from the sea of Japan, snowflakes from the top of the Himalayan ranges near the border. Yes, very exotic.

Ingredients that have no known origins, (actually I know where most of them came from) but where exactly, that is immaterial. What’s most important is that everyone is represented here in this huge pot, all ready to blend together and become one soup. So is it really a complicated soup then? Or is it really just a collation of many varied ingredients with distinct characteristics that would wow even the richest sheik or the wealthiest tycoon? Perhaps.

Recipe

Ingredients

200-250 grams of Pork Ribs *frozen or thawed – it doesn’t matter*

2 Carrots *cubed*

1 Sweet Corn *chopped*

1 Medium Yello Onion *sliced*

5 Dried Scallops (Japanese)

5 Dried Red Dates

1 handful of Wolfberries

 

Method:

1. Par boil the pork ribs and then discard the water. Boil a fresh pot of water, add all the ingredients and bring to an intense boil.

2. Once boiled for 15 minutes. The soup is ready for the thermal cooker.

3. Come back home and drink the soup.

Bon Appetit!