Soothing warmth

By Pauline D Loh (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-13 10:34

Here are some of my favorite soups that can be had with steaming hot white rice or Indian breads, for that perfect snow day meal.

Beijing saw its first snow earlier this month. Minute flakes started floating down just after midnight one night and by dawn, our little courtyard was wearing a Christmas coat of the purest white.

The temptation to slide the windows open and scoop up soft new snow was irresistible, and it looked like a natural sorbet from the skies. But the frigid cold proved too intense, and it was a comfort to retreat to the warmth again. Thank God for central heating.

Back in the kitchen, our apartment was scented by a simmering pot of sweet soup full of dried longans, honey dates and watercress. This nectar would sit on the stove for another hour or so to let the slow heat coax all nourishing goodness out of the ingredients.

Its soothing sweetness would gentle the harshness of an early winter chill, and make a welcome supper in the bitter cold of night.

Sweet soups are a Southern culinary tradition, although their popularity has now spread nationwide with enterprising restaurateurs opening up branches all over China.

These delightful desserts can be served hot or cold according to season, and are made from ingredients as diverse as the humble sweet potato or groundnut, or the more expensive walnuts, almonds and black sesame. Many legumes are also used, with the green mung and red adzuki beans being the most popular.

Almost all sweet soups adhere to the Chinese principle of food as medicine, and will nourish a certain part of the body or alleviate a certain condition. Chinese have always been subtle at finding ways to mitigate gastronomic excesses.

For example, a walnut sweet soup is said to help boost failing memory, while black sesame pudding is supposed to reverse color loss on a graying head. Almond milk nourishes the lungs, as does a sweet soup made from the best dried longan pulp, honey dates and a bunch of watercress.

In summer, green mung beans are boiled long and slow with a sprig of pungent rue (herba rutae) to produce a sweet porridge that will neutralize the build-up of toxic heat. In winter, a similar soup is made from red adzuki beans, with dried lily bulbs and lotus seeds added to increase its blood-warming properties. Sometimes, a piece of aged citrus peel is added for better flavor and more medicinal value.

Once upon a time, when Fujian was still suffering the aftermaths of widespread famine, clever chefs prepared chunky sweet potatoes in ginger-flavored syrup, which satisfied hunger pangs as well as the need for Glycemic Index friendly energy and a sweet tooth.

There are also considerably more aristocratic sweet tonics, the least of which includes bird's nest slowly stewed in rock sugar until meltingly gelatinous, or whole snow pears double-boiled with fritillary bulbs and a mixture of sweet and bitter apricot kernels. Bird's nest is a traditional skin tonic, and this was long before the word "collagen" was even invented.

Snow pears, fritillary bulbs and the apricot kernels have been used together as a cure for respiratory ills for at least a few thousand years. Many OTC cough medicines use these ingredients as well, although it is hard to imagine something so tasty as "medicine".

Another sweet soup popular in winter is my simmering pot of watercress nectar. It is an unusual recipe, combining dried fruits with a vegetable. But watercress is now known for its antipyretic and antibiotic properties while dried longans and candied dates warm the blood and boost flagging energy.

Watercress nectar is very popular in the heartland cafes of Hong Kong where CEOs and taxi-drivers alike enjoy a steaming hot mug with their lunch or dinner in winter. The faintly aromatic watercress nectar could probably account for at least one of the recommended five portions of vegetables and fruits daily.

Here are a few classic sweet soups to tide you through winter's harsh cold, and with all that central heating going full blast, we need all the internal moisturizing we can get.

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