What's
New
Loofah Clam Soup
Loofah Clam Soup Recipe
Ingredient substitution: Replace loofah squash with local squash such as winter melon, fuzzy melon (gourd) or ridged loofah.
Ingredients:
- 300g fresh local clams (such as “lala”, manilla or asari)
- 1 level tbsp fine sea salt for cleaning the clams
- half loofah squash (about 300 to 400g)
- 200 ml chicken stock or replace with water and season with more salt to taste
- 400 ml water
- 10g ginger sliced thinly
- 2 tbsp rice wine (or substitute with sake)
- 3 thin slices ginger julienned (short thin strips); to garnish
- chopped spring onion to garnish
- 1/8 tsp sea salt to taste
- 1/8 tsp white pepper powder to taste
- few drops of sesame oil
Directions:
- Clean and de-grit the clams. Scrub the clams with a hard-bristle brush. Put clams in a bowl of water with 1 tsp sea salt. Let the clams soak in the salted water for 1-2 hours, allowing the sand and grit to be purged out. Discard the water and rinse the clams. Set aside.
- Prepare loofah squash. Using a vegetable peeler, peel and discard the outer skin. Cut loofah flesh to uniform chunks.
- Make loofah clam soup. In a soup pot, bring chicken stock and water to boil. Add cut loofah and ginger slices. Simmer for a few minutes, until the loofah just started to turn translucent. Add clams and cook for 2-4 minutes more, until the clams are opened. Add rice wine and simmer for another 15 seconds. Discard any clams still closed after cooking. Season the soup with salt and white pepper.
- To serve, ladle clams and soup to serving bowls. Garnish with remaining ginger, chopped spring onions and sesame oil.
Pages: 1 2
One of the BEST summer soups!
You will not believe this …..but I made the same dish – loofah and clam soup some time ago!!! :O OMG! And you know what? with the same variety of loofah. It is available in the farmer’s market here during summer time. I like using this round loofah because , as you said, meatier (higher CP 值, hahaha, compared to the angled ones). I also made 丝瓜炒蛋with this round-type loofah before.
Loofah and clam soup is quite common in Taiwan local eateries. I also tried it in Taiwan last time, so was inspired to make it at home. I guess we got the same inspiration from Taiwan :p
haha “CP 值”, I learnt this phrase in TP too! Lucky you that you can find the same gourd in US. I will have to substitute with hairy/melon gourd here. Would love to try your 丝瓜炒蛋 next time :)~