Vermicelli in Papaya Chicken Soup with Red Dates & Wolfberries

While this is not my first attempt at cooking papaya soup it certainly was without a doubt, THE best! I usually cook it with fish & the result is a very sweet-tasting soup. Armed with the intention to enhance the nutritional value of the soup, I decided to add in some red dates & wolfberries.

Ingredients (serve 2 adults + 1 toddler)

1 small green papaya, cut into 1 inch chunks

2 big + 12 small red dates, seeds removed

50g of wolfberries

1.5 litres of water

1 chicken leg + 1 small drumstick

150g of Origins brown rice vermicelli, soaked in water for 15 minutes

Directions:

1. Place papaya & dates into a big pot filled with water, bring to boil & simmer for 2 hours.

2. After 45 minutes, blanch the chicken first by placing it in a small pot with just enough water to cover it. Bring the water to a boil then remove the chicken from the heat, drain, rinse before adding it into the big pot.

3. 15 minutes before the time is up, add in the wolfberries.

4. Lastly, add in the vermicelli to warm it up for 2 minutes, then serve immediately.

I scooped up two bowls of soup before adding the vermicelli as it usually causes the soup to become more bland. To my astonishment, the soup still tasted extremely sweet even after the addition of the vermicelli. My BB finished one big bowl of the vermicelli & even requested excitedly for the small bowl of soup which I've set aside for him. Daddy-O came home early unexpectedly & luckily there was enough for the both of us. It's always such a joy to see my loved ones eating healthily & enjoying themselves in the process <3

Apple Porky Bone Soup

BB had been asking for apples recently as we hadn't been able to buy nice ones. When we finally laid our hands on a pack of fresh ones, I made up my mind to indulge him on 2 of his faves, apple & soup!

Ingredients (serve 2 adults & 1 toddler):

3 small organic apples, core removed & diced

12 dried red dates, seeds removed

3 litres of water

1 piece of small pork bone with meat

A small handful of Chinese almonds ('nan bei xing')

Directions:

1. Blanch the pork first by placing it in a pot with enough water to cover it. Bring the water to boil then remove from heat, drain & rinse.

2. Place all the ingredients into a big pot, bring to boil & simmer for 2 hours.

For lunch, I used the soup to cook a simple salmon with peas vermicelli.

Ingredients (serve 1 adult & 1 toddler):

1 litre of apple pork soup

1/4 pack (about 100g) of Origins brown rice vermicelli, soaked in water for 15 minutes

2 pieces of salmon

1 big handful of frozen peas

Directions:

1. Transfer pork soup to a small pot. Add in salmon & cook for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the thickness). Remove to cool & flake the salmon.

2. Add in vermicelli to warm up then peas to cook for 2 minutes. Top with salmon & serve warm.

Beneficial Combination:

Peas + Pork = Diuretic (promotes the production of urine), stop diarrhoea & aid digestion