Chinese Cabbage Soup
Cabbage Soup with Pork Ribs is a Chinese soup that my mum cooked so frequently in the past that I think she almost cooked it to death at one point in time.
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The timing for cooking the cabbage in this soup recipe is very important. For me, it is usually about 10-15 minutes of boiling the cabbage. If undercooked, the cabbage is quite hard with a “raw” vegetable taste; on the other hand, if overcooked, they start to taste mushy and sour which is not desirable as well. When cooked just right, the deep and sweet flavour of the cabbage shines through and complements the other naturally sweet ingredients like corn, carrots, pork ribs and dried scallops. This is such a simple and nourishing pot of soup. After making it, I realised why my mum liked to cook it so frequently in the past.
Chinese Cabbage Soup Recipe
The timing for cooking the cabbage in this recipe (about 10-15 minutes of simmering) is very important. When cooked just right, the deep and sweet flavour of the cabbage shines through and complements the other naturally sweet ingredients like corn, carrots, pork ribs and dried scallops.
Ingredients:
- 250 grams pork ribs
- 1.5 litres water
- 1 corn on the cob cut to large chunks
- 2 carrots peeled and cut to chunks
- 3 dried scallops
- 200 grams cabbage (Beijing Cabbage/高丽菜/卷心菜 ) torn or sliced to smaller pieces
- salt to taste
Directions:
- Blanch pork ribs in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Take out the pork ribs, rinse in cold water and set aside.
- In a soup pot, add blanched pork ribs, carrots, dried scallops, corn, 1.5 litres of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add cabbage and boil for 10-15 minutes till cabbage leaves are soft and translucent. Season with salt if needed.
Noob Cook Tip
Sweet corn makes the soup really sweet but if you want a more distinct cabbage taste rather than corn taste, you may omit the corn or reduce it from one to half a corn cob.