Pork Soup with Hairy Gourd and Peanuts (Chinese Soup #2)

[ts]
Yes, another day of "convenience" food.

This time, I chose a more conventional mix of ingredients.

"Pork Soup w/ Hairy Gourd & Peanuts"


[ts]
This "simpler" soup just has hairy gourd, pork and pork backbone, honey dates, peanuts and cowpeas (black-eyed peas).

It's nourishing and helps skin stay moisturized!

(Again, this doesn't cool the "hot" (yang) from the body! I think I have too much yang! Perhaps next time I'll get those cooling-the-yang packs.)



Honey dates, peanuts and black-eyed peas on the left. Pork, porkbone and hairy gourd on the right. (Hairy gourd is just some cucumber-like/squash-like vegetable, but I like the name.) Then it's your basic dump-into-a-pot-and-add-water operation.




[ts]
This was definitely better than the sharkbone version. I'm still unsure whether the peanuts are supposed to be really soft or not. The meat got tender faster than the peanuts! Next time I'll wait until the peanuts are soft; I think I'll like that even more. Of course, the hairy gourd was very nice, similar to cooked cucumbers, which I like. (First discovered making Hainan Chicken and testified to in Watermelon Cucumber Curry.)

I'm not too big a fan of pork broth, so I think I'll try some other packs with different proteins.



Kelly (CSC's university-mate) has made this comment regarding these "convenience packs":

I made that soup too [pork with sharkbone] and it did smelled fishy. My favourite is the watercress one. It is brewing as we speak.

Then it's the one with melon and carrots for its sweetness. I also just like eating the pork bones with soy sauce.

The chicken feet one was gelatinous and fatty. I plan on trying the black chicken one some day. My parents ended up buying a bunch of funky Chinese stuff for me and then combined them in zip loc bags. I just need to add pork bones. I have enough to be set for life. ;)

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Pork Soup with Shark Bone and Seaweed (Chinese Soup #1)
Pork Soup with Hairy Gourd and Peanuts (Chinese Soup #2)