Is homemade soup from scratch a troublesome thing? Does it take a lot of time? Many traditional Chinese soups need to be cooked for a long time. Traditional soup stock needs to be simmered for more than 3 hours. A pressure cooker can shorten this time, but it still takes a while. For home kitchens, we can do this, but it will consume a lot of cooking fuel and time. After a long day at work, no one wants to spend hours waiting for dinner. Cabbage, pork, and tofu are common ingredients in Chinese home cooking, and Chinese cabbage pork soup uses all three. The fried tofu is optional, but gives added texture and flavor to this dish.
How do modern Chinese families cook a home-style soup in their kitchens? By using simple ingredients, simple steps, simple seasoning with salt and white pepper, and a cooking method that lets the ingredients flavor the broth. This yields a quick and nutritious soup that the whole family can enjoy. By sautéing the ingredients in a small amount of oil, they release their flavor into the oil, and this in turn flavors the broth, and the dish can be finished in under half an hour.
Chinese cabbage pork soup literally uses cabbage, pork, and tofu. These three ingredients will become a delicious soup after cooking. Since I use a large quantity of each ingredient, this recipe is more like a combination of a main course and a soup. You can drink the broth and eat the ingredients using chopsticks or a fork. If you add more water when cooking, you can increase the amount of salt appropriately. You can taste it to see if the taste is what you want.
Chinese Cabbage Pork Soup with Fried Tofu
Equipment
- 1 wok
- 3-4 deep bowl or serving dish
Ingredients
- 500 g Napa cabbage chopped
- 300 g tofu sliced ½-¾ inch thick
- 200 g lean pork sliced
- 5 ml salt (to taste)
- 3 ml white pepper (to taste)
- 40 ml cooking oil divided, 25 ml, 15ml (5 tsps, 3 tsps)
- 500 ml water
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients. Wash the pork and cabbage.
- Chop the cabbage, separating the white stem part from the green leaves.
- Slice the pork and cut the tofu into 1.5-2cm (½-¾ inch) thick slices.
- Heat the pan until it smokes slightly, pour in 25ml (5 tsps) of oil, hold the pan handle and rotate it to cover the pan with hot oil. When the oil is heated to 90-100°C (194-212℉), add the tofu. Fry until both sides are golden brown, remove from the pan and drain the oil.300 g tofu, 40 ml cooking oil
- Add 15ml (1 tbsp) of oil to the pan, use medium-low heat, add the pork and stir-fry until it changes color and you smell the aroma.40 ml cooking oil, 200 g lean pork
- Over medium heat, add the white part of the cabbage and sauté for 20 seconds before adding the remaining cabbage.500 g Napa cabbage
- After the cabbage is fried until soft, add 500ml (2 cups) of water.500 ml water
- Bring to a boil over high heat, add salt and white pepper and stir well.5 ml salt, 3 ml white pepper
- Transfer the ingredients and broth from the wok to your serving bowls.
- Place the fried tofu on top and serve.
Notes
- The white stem parts of the cabbage is thicker and takes longer to cook than the green leafy parts, so I cook the white part first.
- If you do not want to fry the tofu, you can add it to the broth and cook it with the other ingredients, or leave it out altogether.
Nutrition
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