Monday, March 24, 2008

*Hong Kong Coffee Shop Classic: The Red Soup


Continuing the soft diet...goshhh when is it gonna be over?? Hmmm but let's see the silver lining, it's motivated me to try things I've never tried before, for once my blog may not be full of crispy golden browns for a change (who am I kidding? I still miss the golden browns. sob sob sob).

Those who are from Hong Kong knows this one very well, for this is a famous item in Hong Kong coffee shops. Most "fast meals" (fai chan) comes with either:
- Chinese soup (which often taste like stinky feet soup or with major MSG overload, or severely flavorless)
- "Cream" soup (which normally is just super corn starchy with almost no cream and again tasteless) or
- my favorite, Red soup, which taste decent if not yummy most of the time.

I imagine it takes hours to boil, so I hardly try to recreate it at home. When I eventually did, without knowing the secrets, I failed miserably, my red soup was even more flavorless than HK coffee shop's "cream soup". Shame. On. Me. HAHA

The other day, desperate for something tasty, I requested sous chef's help to make the red soup. After a lengthy (luckily not charged by the hour) consultation with sous chef's mom, we learnt "The Secrets to Successful Hong Kong Style Red Soup" (this is sooo gonna be a self-help book title), which are:
1. Tomato Paste (this gives the soup its vibrant red hue and thickness)
2. Vinegar (this gives the soup its acid punch)

No matter how much I tried to replace those two ingredients with read tomatoes, it just didn't work.

Ingredients
- lots of tomatoes
- 1 large potato
- 1 onion
- 2-3 stalks of celery
- 1 medium sized carrot
cut into chunky bits
- pork/beef brisket, blanch with ginger before cutting into chunky bits
- 1 can of Tomato paste
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- salt pepper

Throw everything into a boiling water, boil for about 1.5 hour, stir in the tomato paste, add the vinegar, salt, pepper, boil some more (the longer the better). Serve with bread + butter or garlic bread.

11 comments:

daphne said...

awww.. hope u get well soon so that u can have more solid food. =)

Cooking said...

It is a splendid site.
Please link by all means with my site.
http://cookingrecipe001.blogspot.com/

Because I show various recipes, please visit the all of you.
http://cookingrecipe001.blogspot.com/

If a site and you that it is possible, and a big connection comes,
and it was watched comment by each other by linking have you visit it,
I am happy at all. And I pray for your good luck.

Indonesia Eats said...

Rit, itu headshot jdi berfoto ria bersama teh botol :)

Cepet sembuh yahhh

Wandering Chopsticks said...

Oh mean, I haven't been checking in a while and I come to see you were just in the hospital? :( *Hugs* I hope you recover quickly.

I had the opposite problem of hypothyroidism and that's no good either.

I was just at a HK cafe for dinner and my cousin was remarking on how much she loves red soup. :) It's tomato borscht.

Wandering Chopsticks said...

Oh! And I had Indonesian fried rice for dinner too and thought of you. :)

Lia said...

Get well soon ya, thanks udah mampir ke blogku, supnya keliatan seger

Anonymous said...

Classy soup that I've been dying for! Thanks for the recipe. --ly

Elsye said...

Rit...gimana udah sembuh bu..:D..itu supo keliatan seger tenan...mauuu...:P

Unknown said...

Hi Rita

you left a comment on my blog

foodmanchan.blogspot.com

here's a few more of my blogs

fredinhongkong08.blogspot.com
breakfastliverpool.blogspot.com

also check this link out - it was a shoot I did for a London restaurant
http://www.fredchan.smugmug.com/gallery/4237383_GDc4b#247917193

click on slideshow

have you got an email address

Unknown said...

hi daph, i am muchhh better thanks to all the best wishes hehehe, eating more solid food now, just avoiding crispy deep fried things now

hi pep...emang nih..model iklan teh botol wannabe apa emang promotor fanatik haha

hi wandering chopsticks, yeah..thyrotoxicosis sucks...wow...how global food is..you are having the same things as i have here and we are miles apart hehe

hi lia and elsye, thanksss semoga aku bisa as seger as the soup soon deh kekeke

hi lil, ym/msn me anytime ^_^

hi fred, it's mochachocolatarita(at)gmail(dot)com :) thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

Tomato paste and vinegar, good to know! I've learned more about HK food.
Glad to know you're able to eat a little more solid foods. Sorry about not being able to eat fried foods yet (my favorite!), so I'll go eat a batch of fried stuff for you right now! :)