I've always known it as "choy gon tong" (菜干湯), which means "dried vegetable soup" in Cantonese. It's actually “dehydrated Bok Choy”.
This soup is traditionally used to relieve heatiness in the body especially those hot days. It's always good to have a hearty bowl of hot soup after a long day. It’s really fragrant. Once boiled, it becomes tender, chewy and stringy.
Back in the old days, bok choy was dehydrated for preservation until the next available harvest. Although you can easily get fresh bok choy nowadays all year round, but we do not need to dehydrate the bok choy ourselves. The dried bok choy packs can be easily found in most Asian markets, mostly imported from China.
Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
1pc Sweet Corn - chopped into small pieces
45g Dried Vegetables
6pcs Chicken Feet (can replace with chicken meat / pork bones)
8-10pcs Red Dates (pitted)
1 tbsp Wolfberries
1.5L Water
Some hot boiling water for soaking the dried vegetables
Salt to taste
Step by Step:
1. Pour hot boiling water to soak dried vegetables for about 5 mins in a big bowl/pot. It will helps to soften the dried vegetables for easier rinsing later on.
2. Then pour away the hot water and soak the vegetables in cold water for another 5 mins.
3. Rinse and wash thoroughly by flipping open the leaves under running tap water to get rid of some sand / dirt particles / little insects/worm (if any) trapped in between the leaves during the drying process.
4. Then use a scissors to cut vegetables into 1 inch lengthwise. Only take the leaves and some thin stems. Discard those thick stems as it will be too fibrous & hard to chew on. Drain.
5. Put everything in a pot (except salt) and bring to a boil.
6. Once it start to boil, reduce heat and let it simmer slowly for about 2 hours.
7. Season with salt before serving.
8. Serve hot.
