8 Chinese Pork Soup Recipes Using Different Pork Cuts

Recipe 1: Pork meatball soup with winter melon and crab meat

This meatball soup is a quick boiling soup. To lower the oiliness of the soup, skip the garlic browning part. Just boil the chicken stock and add the garlic.

The lemongrass adds a nice fragrant and tangy flavor. You can add a little cornstarch solution at the end before serving if you like a smoother texture.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground pork
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 5 tbsp canola oil
• 4 cup chopped garlic
• 2.5 quart chicken stock
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 1 pound winter melon
• 6 crab claws
• chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. Cut the winter melon into bite-sized chunks and remove all the seeds
2. Season the ground pork with salt and pepper
3. Add the cornstarch and mix well
4. Pick a tablespoon-ful of ground pork and roll them into balls with the palms of your hand
5. Place the meatballs aside for use later
6. Heat the oil in a deep pot
7. Add the chopped garlic and fry till golden brown on medium heat
8. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil
9. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass and winter melon
10. Cook until the winter melon turns translucent
11. Add the meatballs and crab claws
12. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the meat balls float to the surface
13. Remove from heat and serve with chopped cilantro as garnish

Recipe 2: Meat paste

This meat paste can be used as meatballs or as stuffings for vegetables like brinjai, bittergourd or topping for tofu. It can also be steamed as a meat loaf. One of my childhood favourites is the steamed minced pork 蒸肉饼 (zheng rou bing).

Ingredients

• 600g pork belly
• 110g onion (dice finely)
• Coriander (chopped finely)
• Chinese mushrooms
• Dried flatfish (grounded)
• 1 egg
• 15g cornstarch
• Salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce to taste

Directions

1. Mince the pork belly
2. Place in a mixing bowl and mix in the seasonings
3. Add the diced onion, coriander, chinese mushrooms and grounded dried flatfish
4. Add the egg and cornstarch and mixed till the meat paste is slightly sticky
5. Shape into balls or use as stuffing

Recipe 3: Lean pork soup with water melon peel

This is a pork soup using water melon peel, also known as water melon rind. It is a great treat in summer.

Most people know that water melon flesh is juicy, sweet, and full of iron and vitamin C. We chomped away at the flesh and throw away the seeds and rind. Few know that the peel is considered to have medicinal properties.

The tart white rind is believed to contain citruline. This is an amino acid that helps dilate blood vessels and improve blood circulation. In traditional Chinese medicine, dried water melon rind has been prescribed for patients with kidney problems, anaemia, dry throat, chapped lips, and bladder inflammation.

The next time you eat thirst-quenching water melon, do not throw away the water melon peel. Use it to cook a quick Chinese soup.

Ingredients

• 300g water melon skin
• 500ml soup stock
• 150g lean pork

Directions

1. Remove any red flesh from the water melon peel
2. Peel the outer tougher part of the peel, leaving only the green inner part
3. Cut into bite-sized pieces
4. Cut lean pork into thin slices and pound each piece lightly with a meat mallet or back of the knife to tenderize them
5. Marinate lightly with soy sauce and a little cornstarch
6. Bring 500 ml soup stock to a boil
7. Add the water melon peel pieces and lean pork slices
8. Cook over high heat for 10 minutes
9. Season with a bit of salt
10. Serve

Recipe 4: Mango soup with lean pork

A mango recipe with lean pork equals a Chinese summer soup? Bet you didn't know that mangoes can be used in soups.

Mango is considered a cooling food and has been used to relieve coughing caused by heaty lungs. The flesh of a very ripe mango can also relieve inflammation and scalding. This mango soup is great for a cough caused by the summer heat.

Ingredients

• 4 half-ripe mangoes
• 250g lean pork
• Salt
• 10 cups of water

Directions

1. Parboil the lean pork in boiling water for about 5 minutes
2. Remove and rinse
3. Wash the mangos
4. Halve the mangoes
5. Place the lean pork and mango halves in a pot and add 10 cups of water
6. Bring the pot to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer
7. Simmer for 2 hours
8. Season with salt before serving

Recipe 5: Egg drop soup with button mushrooms and pork

An egg drop soup that is not thickened. A quick soup using store-bought stock cubes.

Marinating the pork slices with cornstarch is an important step because it imparts a thin smooth coating to the pork.

Ingredients

• 100g pork slices
• 200g button mushrooms
• One quarter section carrot
• 1 egg
• 1 small stalk parsley
• Cornstarch
• 500ml water
• 1 chicken stock cube

Directions

1. Clean the mushrooms and slice thinly
2. Peel the carrot and slice thinly
3. Clean the celery and cut into thin sections
4. Marinate the pork slices with some salt and cornstarch
5. Bring 500ml water to a boil, add the chicken stock cube and stir to dissolve
6. Add the mushroom and carrot slices and cook for about 2 minutes
7. Add the pork slices and stir to break up the pieces
8. Beat the egg
9. When the pork slices turn pale, add the parsley
10. Drop the egg into the soup, sprinkle sesame seed oil
11. Serve

Recipe 6: Salted vegetable soup with pork slices

A visitor once asked me whether I have a recipe for pork and pickled cabbage soup. She ate it at some downtown chinese restaurants in NYC. My first thought was: Cantonese (Guang dong) or Szechwan (Si chuan)?

Pickled cabbage can mean different things to different chinese dialect groups. The Cantonese has a soup dish called harm choy tong which means salted vegetable soup. The key ingredient is a type of pickled mustard cabbage.

The Szechwan has a soup dish called 榨菜汤 (zha cai tang) which means pressed vegetable soup. The key ingredient is zha cai, also a type of pickled mustard green but the stem of this green vegetable is knobbly and shaped more like a fist.

Both types of pickled vegetables can have salty, sourish or spicy varieties. So, a tough question indeed. Fortunately, the recipe below can be used with both types of pickled vegetables.

Now, the question is which is which at the Asian grocery shops. Like I say, the Szechwan one is a knobbly fist-shaped vegetable. It offers a more robust taste and is crunchier than its cantonese counterpart.

Buy pickled chinese vegetables in large packets if you intend to make soups. Those sold in small jars are usually for cold side dishes and can be served straight out of the jars.

As for the tomato, remove the skin by scoring the skin and blanching it in hot water. The skin will curl back from the flesh making it easier to remove. If you have soft tofu leftovers lying around in the fridge, add them into your salted vegetable soup.

Ingredients

• 300g lean pork
• 300g salted vegetable or pickled mustard green
• 3 stalk of spring onion
• 1 tomato
• 1 litre water or soup stock
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cooking wine
• Dash of sesame seed oil
• Dash of pepper
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

1. Slice the lean pork thinly across the grain
2. Marinate the pork with a dash of soy sauce and sesame seed oil
3. Add the cornstarch and mix well
4. Wash and soak the salted vegetable for about 10 minutes
5. Cut the salted vegetable into bite-sized pieces or thin slices for the Szechwan variety
6. Wash and cut the tomato into thin quarters
7. Bring a pot of water to the boil
8. Add the salted vegetable and spring onions and tomato
9. Bring the water back to a boil
10. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes
11. Add the marinated pork
12. Season the soup with the salt, cooking wine, and pepper
13. Taste the soup before adding the salt as the salted vegetable is salty too

Recipe 7: Pork soup with apples and pears

This pork soup recipe features fresh apples and pears. It is a sweet and clear soup offering a nice crunch with the fresh fruits.

Apricot seeds are kernels of a Mongolian apricot. There are 2 varieties: sweet and bitter. Both are highly regarded as herbs for respiratory problems. They feature frequently in soups for colds as they have been observed to remedy severe colds, asthma, rheumatism, swollen feet and constipation.

Ingredients

• 3 apples
• 3 pears
• 300g spare ribs
• 25g sweet and bitter apricot seeds 南北杏 (nan bei xing)
• 25g red dates
• 2 slices ginger
• 3 litre water
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. Wash the apples and pears well
2. Slice and core them but do not peel
3. Parboil the spare ribs for about 2 minutes
4. Remove, drain and rinse
5. Place ginger, spare ribs, apples and pears, apricot seeds, red dates and water in a soup pot
6. Bring to a boil
7. Lower to medium heat and simmer for 1.5 hour

Recipe 8: Congee with brown rice and pork ribs

Pork ribs have considerably less calories than other pork cuts. It is very suitable for making soups that are flavorsome but not oily. When slow cooked, the calcium in the bones seeped into the soup infusing it with a nice smooth and slightly thickened texture. Very nutritious too.

Brown rice is more nutritious than polished white rice but it is harder to cook. Soaking it prior to cooking will shorten cooking time. It is also possible to mix brown rice and white rice.

I would use the slow cooker or a good rice cooker to cook this congee.

Ingredients

• 300g pork ribs
• 150g brown rice
• 600ml bone stock
• 1 tbsp goji berries
• 1g astragalus
• Chopped coriander

Seasonings

• Salt and pepper
• Sesame seed oil

Directions

1. Wash the brown rice and soak in warm water for 1 hour
2. Clean the pork ribs and parboil for 2 minutes
3. In a big pot, add the astragalus, brown rice, pork ribs, goji berries and stock
4. Bring everything to a boil before lowering to a simmer
5. When the congee is done, season to taste
6. Garnish with chopped coriander before serving

Recipe 9: Pork soup with red dates and chinese yam

I find this pork soup a very satisfying dish especially for days when I worked very hard. It is very nice to come home to a bowl of piping hot pork soup with Chinese yam, goji berries and red dates.

If you stay on your own, prepare the ingredients in the morning and leave everything to slow cook in a slow cooker before leaving for work. When you come back tired from work, your soup will be waiting for you. Happiness!

Ingredients

• 75g fresh chinese yam
• 8 red dates
• 1 tbsp goji berries
• 300g pork ribs
• 3 pieces ginger
• 1 litre water

Seasonings

• Salt
• 1 tbsp mirin

Directions

1. Peel the chinese yam and cut pieces
2. Clean the pork ribs and parboil for 2 minutes
3. Place the red dates, pork ribs, ginger and water into a big pot
4. Bring everything to a boil
5. Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes
6. Add the chinese yam and seasonings
7. Simmer for another 20 minutes