This spectacular traditional Chinese soup Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup 八寶冬瓜盅 is not only beautiful and decadently delicious but also most excellent for relieving of the summer heat. The soup is made using all parts of the winter melon: the flesh as an ingredient in the soup and the hollowed out melon itself as the soup ‘tureen’.
With a large sized winter melon this soup makes for a knock your socks off presentation, soup served in a carved and hollowed out melon ‘tureen’, so cool! For the home version you can nowadays find the mini winter melon at markets. We used these to make individual soup tureens of winter melon soup.
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| Detail from An Elegant Party by Emperor Huizong (1100-1125 AD), showing banquet hosted by emperor for scholar officials |
Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup was originally created for the emperor’s summer pleasure during the Qing dynasty. Interestingly the imperial chefs originally used watermelon! When the trend for these fancy soups traveled to Guangdong the chefs there used the locally sourced winter melon instead.
As only proper for an imperial dish the winter melon soup is stuffed with eight (lucky Chinese number) treasures. When prepared this way it’s really quite the extravagant and elegant soup to serve for a special dinner. Or if you’re shooting for something more simple just add in a couple whichever of the ‘treasures’ you like and make a simpler yet just as delicious soup to enjoy.
The foundation of this soup is the winter melon 冬瓜. It is a large dark green skinned melon The surface is sometimes dusted with a white powder thus giving it the name of ‘winter’ melon. They can grow to the size of a large watermelon. Nowadays they are also sold in mini size, the melons only around 8″ long. You can find these beauties at the wet markets in HK where they are sold whole or in large slices.
For reference the photo above shows a slice from the large winter melon, about 8″ across. Note the beautiful jade white flesh. When cooked the flesh becomes soft and translucent. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine winter melon is cooling and can clear your body of ‘summer heat’.
For this soup you have a choice of ‘tureen’ size. You can make a large ‘tureen’ by hollowing out one large winter melon. Or you can make small individual ‘tureens’ using mini winter melons.
Making the soup tureens from the melons was fun! You just slice off the tops of the gourd to create a basic tureen shape. Then cut the top lip of the tureen in the traditional jagged pattern. If you’re out to impress or have a yen to be crafty you can even carve the surface of the gourd! We used our set of wood carving tools to do the job. First draw your pattern on the melon, then carve away revealing the light green beneath. I love making food art!
The final step to make the soup tureen is to hollow out the melon. For the large melons there is soft pith and seeds in the middle that must be removed and discarded. Then the winter melon flesh is carved/hollowed out, leaving behind a melon ‘tureen’. The hollowed out winter melon flesh is cubed and reserved for the soup.
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| Clockwise from upper right: Jinhua ham (sliced and cubed), parboiled & cubed pork, roasted duck cubed, roasted duck before cubing |
Okay, once you’ve got your winter melon sorted it’s time for treasure hunting! Chinese LOVE food. Food is our treasure, lol. So the eight treasures, what might they be?
The first three treasures are meat treasures. There is lean pork, roasted duck and the fabulous salt preserved Jinhua ham. Lean pork is for the flavor. We parboil the pork first to get rid of impurities and fat. Roasted duck is cuz duck makes for super tasty soup. And Jinhua ham is for its super intense meaty essence. These are just the first three food treasures and already this soup is packed with sooooo much flavor already. Are you getting the imperial vibe yet?
Now let’s move onto the dried food ‘treasures’. The Chinese have mastered the art of drying foods, in the process preserving and concentrating the flavors, basically creating umami packed foods.
The first dried ‘treasure’ is the Chinese dried mushroom 冬菇. These babies are essential to the Chinese pantry. Rehydrated, these mushroom pack a super intensified shroominess.
The second dried ‘treasure’ is the Chinese dried scallop 幹貝. Looking like golden coins, dried scallops really are treasures from the sea, they cost quite a bit! Oh, but they’re so good, the sea sweet taste of scallops concentrated and enhanced, the texture chewy. Since dried scallops are expensive you can look for the ones that are broken up already, such as shown in the photo above left. The broken up scallops will be cheaper.
The third dried ‘treasure’ is a seed. The dried lotus seed 白蓮子幹 from the most magnificent lotus flower. Actually you could use fresh lotus seeds but they’re super hard to find. Cooked properly these seeds provide are creamy and crumble meltingly when bitten into.
Do note that if cooked improperly the lotus seeds become rubbery. But do not fear, help is near! The easy secret to properly cook dried lotus seeds is to keep them away from any kind of liquid until ready to cook. Then cook by add directly to boiling liquid. Cook til soft and delicious.
Find dried lotus seeds at the supermarkets in the dried foods section or at the specialty dried foods stores mentioned previously.
With all your eight treasures ready to go it’s time to set up your steamer to receive the winter melon ‘tureen’. Find bowls that fit your winter melons snuggly upright. If you can’t find a bowl with an exact fit pack some folded towels between the bowl and the melon. You will also need a big tall pot that can fit the melons as they steam. Add water to pot and a steam rack to lift the melons above the water. Add in the melon ‘tureens’ into the pot before heating the water.
The soup itself is precooked in a separate pot. In that pot add in the stock, water, winter melon, and all the eight treasures and cook. When the soup is done it’s then ladled into the melon ‘tureen’ for a final steam. This final steam cooks the walls of the melon ‘tureen’ so that the diner can scrap off bits of the ‘tureen’ to eat. It also allows the ‘tureen’ walls to be infused with the soup’s flavor.
Note: For the mini melons I would recommend scooping the insides a bit more than is shown in the photo above which shows a 1 inch wall for the ‘tureen’. One inch is fine for a large winter melon ‘tureen’ but I think 1/2 inch is better for the minis as it leaves more room for the soup.
Once the soup is cooked we ladle the soup into the melon ‘tureens’, ready for the final steam. Cook until the flesh on the ‘tureen’ walls is soft (check by poking with a fork) and infused with the soup’s flavor.
Carefully remove the winter melons from the steamer. For the large winter melon ‘tureen’ I would suggest to ladle the soup out first before lifting the melon out of the steamer. Then ladle the soup back in for the final presentation.
This last ingredient is not counted as part of the eight treasures but it is the pièce de résistance, the distinctive decorative touch that identifies this elegant soup as winter melon soup right away. It is the edible night scent flower 夜香花, also known as night orchid. It is sprinkled over the finished soup, adding a light fragrance and a beautiful finishing touch.
These flowers can be found at the wet markets in HK but you kinda have to look around for them. To use, pluck the flowers and discard the stems. You can also use these lovelies to make a night scent flower stir fry egg 夜香花炒蛋 dish, yum, yum!
And that it’s. Get ready to seriously impress some folks with your elegantly delicious Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup!
八寶冬瓜盅
(6 servings) Soak time: 1 hr Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time (large): 1 hr Cook time (mini): 35 mins
Ingredients:
- 3 bowls that can hold mini winter melons upright or 1 bowl can hold large melon upright
- steamer pot large enough to fit the melon ‘tureens’ and their bowls
- 3 mini winter melons or one large winter melon
- 4 dried Chinese mushrooms 冬菇
- 2-3 dried scallops 幹貝
- 3 cups winter melon 冬瓜, cubed
- 5 oz lean pork, 150g
- 3/4 cup Cantonese roasted duck 燒鴨, cubed
- 1/8 cup Jinhua Ham 金華火腿, cubed
- 1 cup dried lotus seeds 白蓮子幹
- 10 small shrimps
- 1/4 cup fake crab meat or real crab meat, shredded
- 1/4 cup night fragrant flowers 夜香花
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 6 cups water
- salt to taste
Prepare the dried mushrooms: Soak the mushrooms in hot water for an hour or until soft. Reserve the soaking water. Cut off and discard the stems, then slice to slivers.
Prepare the dried scallops: Soak the scallops in water for an hour or until soft enough to shred. Reserve the soaking water. Shred the scallops with your fingers.
Prepare melon ‘tureen’: Slice off the top of one side of the melon to form ‘tureen’ shape. For the mini winter melons we sliced off conservatively about an inch to inch and a half, so as to conserve as much of the melon for the ‘tureen’ as possible. If using the larger melons to make the ‘tureen’, slice off enough on one side to end up with your desired size of tureen.
Cut the top lip of the ‘tureen’ with a jagged edge, as is traditionally done, or you can just leave it flat. If you want to carve a pattern on the green skin of the winter melon you should do it now. I recommend using simple wood carving tools. Use a pen to lightly draw your patterns on the surface first before carving the green away to reveal the white underneath. Remember that part of the melon will be hidden by the bowl that holds it up.
Slice the winter melon flesh roughly into cubes and reserve.
Prepare the roasted duck: Remove the bones from the meat of the duck. Slice meat into cubes.
Prepare the Jinhua Ham: Slice the ham into cubes.
Precook the soup: In a large pot add the stock and water to the pot. Heat until boiling then add in mushrooms, scallops, pork, duck, jinhua ham, lotus seeds, shrimp, crab and winter melon. When the soup reboils turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 30 mins covered. Add salt to taste.
Prepare the flowers: Pluck the night scent flowers and discard the stems.
Prepare ‘tureen’ for steaming (for large tureens): Place carved and hollowed out tureen into a bowl that can hold it upright. Use towels to hold the melon snug to the bowl if necessary. Add an inch and half of water to steamer pot. Add steamer rack. Place the melon ‘tureen’ on steamer rack.
Ladle in the precooked soup. It’s okay if it doesn’t all fit. Steam for 30 mins or until the walls of the tureen are soft. Check by poking the walls with a fork. Ladle the hot soup out so that it is easier to lift out the melon tureen. Ladle the soup back into melon. Sprinkle night scent flowers on the soup before serving hot and impressive.
Enjoy this imperial delight!