Beef Soup with White Radish & Waterchestnut (萝卜马蹄牛肉汤）

Adapted the soup idea from Wendy's blog. But I slightly modified it to suit my own.

My Mother-In-Law loves cooking beef soup for us. But her's is thicker, and very savory. I love it alot. While the one I cooked now, it is much lighter and sweeter. This soup is good if you wanna clear heat and detoxify your body. Because there's Couch Grass in there, and promotes urination too.

A month ago, I bought a pack of Cane and ArrowRoot Stock (甘蔗粉葛汤料) from medical hall and I don't have the opportunity to use it. Until when I read Wendy's blog, then, I know this comes in handy!

Content : Sugar Cane (甘蔗)，Arrowroot (粉葛)，Couchgrass (白茅根)，Carrot (红萝卜).

Total about 200grams in a pack. But I don't think I will use up the whole pack. I just need half of them, and keep the balance for next time. 

And here's what I've prepared...

 (Recipe adapted from Wendy's blog, but slight modified. Click here for reference)

Ingredients (Serves 3 - 4)

• 300 grams of fresh beef cubes 
• 300 grams of white radish
• 200 grams of carrot
• 8 to 10 pcs of waterchestnuts, washed, peeled. Should weight about 150 grams
• 100 grams of dried Sugar Cane
• 10 grams of dried couchgrass 
• a slice of dried arrowroot 
• 10 grams of "Nan Xing" Sweet Chinese almonds (南杏)
• About 2L water
• Pinch of sea salt to taste
• some chopped coriander to garnish before serve.

There are two types of Chinese almonds. "Nan Xing" and "Bei Xing". Usually, people buy both at the same time. But it really depends on you. And the difference is as follows :-

南杏 "Nan Xing" = Sweet in taste. (补肺润燥止咳喘)
北杏 "Bei Xing" = Bitter in taste. (宣降肺气而止咳喘)

You can use both almonds together if you want. Or any of them. It's up to you.

Actually the amount of the Couch grass in that pack of 甘蔗粉葛汤料 is miserable. I think it only has 5 grams of it. I do have Couch grass at home, as it is one of the common herbs that Chinese family keep stock at home. So, I make the Couch Grass into 10 grams. 

Couch grass It is effective in alleviating the occurrence as well as the soreness of urination - an effectual medication for UTI - Urinary Tract Infection (difficult and painful urination and a condition marked by slow, painful urination, caused by muscular spasms of the urethra and bladder). 

Method 

1. Rinse beef cubes scald in boiling water for awhile, remove and rinse. (Refer to this if you are unsure on how to scald your meat) 
2. Wash all the rest of the ingredients, and do all the necessary cutting.
3. In a soup pot (I'm using slow cooker this time), put everything in (except salt & coriander). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the soup over low heat for 2 to 3 hours. I let it sit in the slow cooker for 4 hours! Woohoo! The soup is has the Power!!!
4. Sprinkle salt to taste, give it a good stir. Dish up, sprinkle some coriander as garnishing and serve.

Take a look at the soup. It's light, clear and sweet. No bluff!

I love this soup!

Wendy is true, it only has a mild beef taste. It doesn't over-powered the taste of the rest of the ingredients. The soup itself is sweet. It's not meant to be savory meaty end. And yep! There's no dried seafood ingredients in there, so I put a lil' more salt for this soup. Most of the dried seafood ingredients are a lil' salty.

If you don't eat beef, you can substitute with the usual pork ribs or lean meat. I should work fine, but I'm sure it taste different, as the beef taste is stronger than pork. 

Because of it's sweetness, I think children will love it. Do give it a try. I'm sure you will love it!

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