Salted Mustard Greens & Tofu Soup 咸菜豆腐汤

Salted Mustard Greens & Tofu Soup 咸菜豆腐汤

The Cantonese call this Hum Choy Tau Foo Tong

I love soup. If you ask me, I'll say all soups are delicious. If there is soup, I don't need any other accompanying dishes. I can eat a whole plateful of rice with just this soup. This soup is bursting with mixed flavours from the slightly sour tomatoes, salty mustard greens and the bitter gourd. The old chicken is very tender after hours of boiling and  I especially love the tofu which has been boiled so long that it has so many holes in them.  You simply must try this soup. Yummy!

Ingredients

3/4 old chicken

300g bitter gourd

400g of ripe tomatoes

200g salted mustard greens ( Hum Choy )

1 piece of soft tofu

2 litres of water

2 tsp salt, or to taste

   

The raw vegetables & tofu

1. Cut the tomatoes into wedges

2. Cut the bitter gourd into two halves, remove the seeds and the pith and cut into sections as shown in the picture.

3. Slice the mustard greens into thin slices. Put into a large bowl and wash. Pour away the water immediately. Repeat the process. Do not soak the mustard greens, otherwise it becomes tasteless

4. Cut the block of tofu into 8 pieces

 

1. Use only 3/4 of the old chicken.

2. Remove the chicken skin and as much of the fat as possible

Method

1. Put all the ingredients into a large pot and boil  for 2 1/2 to 3 hours

2. You need to skim off  the scum floating on the surface. Keep adding water to maintain the original amount of water.

3. You need to stir the chicken pieces to make sure that they do not stick to the bottom of the pot.

4. Take care not to break the delicate tofu pieces floating around

5. It is ready once the chicken is tender

6. Add salt to taste

Do try and boil this today!

Tips:   If you have any leftover, this is what you can do. Boil some water in a pot, add in vermicelli (beehoon). Stir until it becomes soft. Drain the water with a sieve and rinse the vermicelli with some boiled water. Place the vermicelli in a large bowl and add the leftover soup into it. This makes a delicious breakfast.