{"id":122,"date":"2024-11-25T16:35:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T16:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sefovirtuve.lt\/?p=122"},"modified":"2024-11-25T16:35:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T16:35:52","slug":"eight-treasures-winter-melon-soup-%e5%85%ab%e5%af%b6%e5%86%ac%e7%93%9c%e7%9b%85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sefovirtuve.lt\/?p=122","title":{"rendered":"Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup \u516b\u5bf6\u51ac\u74dc\u76c5"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This spectacular traditional Chinese soup\u00a0Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup \u516b\u5bf6\u51ac\u74dc\u76c5 is not only beautiful and decadently delicious but also most excellent for relieving of the summer heat.\u00a0 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’. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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! \u00a0For the home version you can nowadays find the mini winter melon at markets. \u00a0We used these to make individual soup tureens of winter melon soup.<\/p>\n

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Detail from An Elegant Party by Emperor Huizong (1100-1125 AD)<\/u>,
showing banquet hosted by emperor for scholar officials<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup was originally created for the emperor’s summer pleasure during the Qing dynasty. \u00a0Interestingly the imperial chefs originally used watermelon! \u00a0When the trend for these fancy soups traveled to Guangdong the chefs there used the locally sourced winter melon instead.<\/p>\n

As only proper for an imperial dish the winter melon soup is stuffed with eight (lucky Chinese number<\/i>) treasures. \u00a0When prepared this way it\u2019s really quite the extravagant and elegant soup to serve for a special dinner.\u00a0 Or if you\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

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The foundation of this soup is the winter melon \u51ac\u74dc.\u00a0 It is a large dark green skinned melon\u00a0 The surface is sometimes dusted with a white powder thus giving it the name of ‘winter’ melon.\u00a0 They can grow to the size of a large watermelon.\u00a0 Nowadays they are also sold in mini size, the melons only around 8″ long.\u00a0 You can find these beauties at the wet markets in HK where they are sold whole or in large slices.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For reference the photo above shows a slice from the large winter melon, about 8″ across.\u00a0 Note the beautiful jade white flesh.\u00a0 When cooked the flesh becomes soft and translucent.\u00a0 According to Traditional Chinese Medicine winter melon is cooling and can clear your body of ‘summer heat’.<\/p>\n

For this soup you have a choice of ‘tureen’ size.\u00a0 You can make a large ‘tureen’ by hollowing out one large winter melon.\u00a0 Or you can make small individual ‘tureens’ using mini winter melons.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Making the soup tureens from the melons was fun! \u00a0You just slice off the tops of the gourd to create a basic tureen shape.\u00a0 Then cut the top lip of the tureen in the traditional jagged pattern. \u00a0If you\u2019re out to impress or have a yen to be crafty you can even carve the surface of the gourd! \u00a0We used our set of wood carving tools to do the job.\u00a0 First draw your pattern on the melon, then carve away revealing the light green beneath.\u00a0 I love making food art!<\/p>\n

The final step to make the soup tureen is to hollow out the melon.\u00a0 For the large melons there is soft pith and seeds in the middle that must be removed and discarded.\u00a0 Then the winter melon flesh is carved\/hollowed out, leaving behind a melon ‘tureen’.\u00a0 The hollowed out winter melon flesh is cubed and reserved for the soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Clockwise from upper right: Jinhua ham (sliced and cubed), parboiled
& cubed pork, roasted duck cubed, roasted duck before cubing<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Okay, once you\u2019ve got your winter melon sorted it\u2019s time for treasure hunting! \u00a0Chinese LOVE food. \u00a0Food is our treasure, lol. \u00a0 So the eight treasures, what might they be?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first three treasures are meat treasures. \u00a0There is lean pork, roasted duck and the fabulous salt preserved Jinhua ham.\u00a0 Lean pork is for the flavor.\u00a0 We parboil the pork first to get rid of impurities and fat.\u00a0 Roasted duck is cuz duck makes for super tasty soup. \u00a0And Jinhua ham is for its super intense meaty essence. \u00a0These are just the first three food treasures and already this soup is packed with sooooo much flavor already. \u00a0Are you getting the imperial vibe yet?<\/p>\n

Where to find these meaty treasures?\u00a0 Find the fresh pork at your local supermarket or butcher.\u00a0 Look for the roasted duck\u00a0\u71d2\u9d28 at your local siu mei shop \u71d2\u5473\u5e97, or Cantonese roasted meats shop. \u00a0In HK there are these shops in every neighborhood. \u00a0Outside of HK I would head to where the Cantonese shop\/eat. \u00a0There are bound to be roasted meats available in those areas. \u00a0The Jinhua ham\u00a0\u91d1\u83ef\u706b\u817f you can get in Asian grocery stores. \u00a0But if you\u2019re in HK I would recommend to poke around specialty Chinese food stores to get some better quality ham.\u00a0 For more on Jinhua Ham click to read our post on it.<\/div>\n
The next two treasures are from the sea.\u00a0 Fresh sea sweet shrimp and luscious crab meat.\u00a0 We used frozen shelled shrimp and imitation crab meat.\u00a0 We forgot to photograph these two but y’all know what they look like, amirite?\u00a0 You can of course use fresh shrimp (just gotta shell them<\/i>) and real crab meat: the crab must be steamed first and the meat picked out.\u00a0 If you want to use fresh crab see our post on how to steam crabs.<\/div>\n

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Now let’s move onto the dried food \u2018treasures\u2019. \u00a0The Chinese have mastered the art of drying foods, in the process preserving and concentrating the flavors, basically creating umami packed foods. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The first dried \u2018treasure\u2019 is the Chinese dried mushroom \u51ac\u83c7. \u00a0These babies are essential to the Chinese pantry. \u00a0Rehydrated, these mushroom pack a super intensified shroominess.<\/p>\n

The second dried \u2018treasure\u2019 is the Chinese dried scallop \u5e79\u8c9d. \u00a0Looking like golden coins, dried scallops really are treasures from the sea, they cost quite a bit! \u00a0Oh, but they\u2019re so good, the sea sweet taste of scallops concentrated and enhanced, the texture chewy.\u00a0 Since dried scallops are expensive you can look for the ones that are broken up already, such as shown in the photo above left.\u00a0 The broken up scallops will be cheaper.<\/p>\n

Buy dried foods like these at the specialty shops that sell dried foods. \u00a0You can spot these shops from the bags of dried shrooms, flowers, nuts, beans etc in the front of the shop and the shelves lined with large glass jars neatly packed with dried foods of all kinds.\u00a0 There are shops like this in every HK neighborhood.\u00a0 And you can also go shopping for dried foods in Sheung Wan along the Dried Seafood Street.\u00a0 Lotsa of great deals to be found there.<\/div>\n
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The third dried \u2018treasure\u2019 is a seed. \u00a0The dried lotus seed \u767d\u84ee\u5b50\u5e79 from the most magnificent lotus flower. \u00a0Actually you could use fresh lotus seeds but they\u2019re super hard to find. \u00a0Cooked properly these seeds provide are creamy and crumble meltingly when bitten into.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do note that if cooked improperly the lotus seeds become rubbery. \u00a0But do not fear, help is near!\u00a0 The easy secret to properly cook dried lotus seeds is to keep them away from any kind of liquid until ready to cook.\u00a0 Then cook by add directly to boiling<\/b><\/i> liquid.\u00a0 Cook til soft and delicious.<\/p>\n

Find dried lotus seeds at the supermarkets in the dried foods section or at the specialty dried foods stores mentioned previously.<\/p>\n

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With all your eight treasures ready to go it’s time to set up your steamer to receive the winter melon ‘tureen’.\u00a0 Find bowls that fit your winter melons snuggly upright.\u00a0 If you can’t find a bowl with an exact fit pack some folded towels between the bowl and the melon.\u00a0 You will also need a big tall pot that can fit the melons as they steam.\u00a0Add water to pot and a steam rack to lift the melons above the water.\u00a0 Add in the melon ‘tureens’ into the pot before heating the water.<\/p>\n

The soup itself is precooked in a separate pot.\u00a0 In that pot add in the stock, water, winter melon, and all the eight treasures and cook.\u00a0 When the soup is done it’s then ladled into the melon ‘tureen’ for a final steam.\u00a0 This final steam cooks the walls of the melon ‘tureen’ so that the diner can scrap off bits of the ‘tureen’ to eat.\u00a0 It also allows the ‘tureen’ walls to be infused with the soup’s flavor.<\/p>\n

Note: <\/b>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’.\u00a0 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.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Once the soup is cooked we ladle the soup into the melon ‘tureens’, ready for the final steam.\u00a0 Cook until the flesh on the ‘tureen’ walls is soft (check by poking with a fork<\/i>) and infused with the soup’s flavor.<\/p>\n

Carefully remove the winter melons from the steamer.\u00a0 For the large winter melon ‘tureen’ I would suggest to ladle the soup out first before lifting the melon out of the steamer.\u00a0 Then ladle the soup back in for the final presentation.<\/p>\n

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This last ingredient is not counted as part of the eight treasures but it is the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance, the distinctive decorative touch that identifies this elegant soup as winter melon soup right away.\u00a0 It is the edible night scent flower \u591c\u9999\u82b1, also known as night orchid.\u00a0 It is sprinkled over the finished soup, adding a light fragrance and a beautiful finishing touch.<\/p>\n

These flowers can be found at the wet markets in HK but you kinda have to look around for them.\u00a0 To use, pluck the flowers and discard the stems.\u00a0 You can also use these lovelies to make a night scent flower stir fry egg \u591c\u9999\u82b1\u7092\u86cb dish, yum, yum!<\/p>\n

And that it’s.\u00a0 Get ready to seriously impress some folks with your elegantly delicious Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup!<\/p>\n

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Eight Treasures Winter Melon Soup<\/i><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u516b\u5bf6\u51ac\u74dc\u76c5<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

(6 servings)\u00a0 Soak time: 1 hr\u00a0 Prep time: 20 mins\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Cook time (large): 1 hr\u00a0 Cook time (mini): 35 mins<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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