Old I May Be, But Tender and Sweet Am I

It is soup day again today, I’m afraid.

This is another “basic” soup that every family has a version of – old cucumber soup.

Yes, old cucumber. That’s what it is called in Chinese – lao huang gua. And that’s what it is.

It is melon-like and large - on average, about 11-12 inches in length with a wide girth of, oh, maybe 5-6 inches. And unlike the green, crispy and crunchy young version, this has a soft gourd-like texture with a subtle sweet flavor.

(Sorry, the skin was already removed by the time it occurred to me to take some pictures. My apologies too for the rather unbecoming tint in the preceding picture as well as in the next 4 photos; I forgot to adjust the white balance setting.)

After the outer skin has been removed, cut the cucumber into wedges, and remove the seeds.

Next, cut the each piece into chunks, ready for cooking.

The other ingredients that are used to flavor and “enrich” the soup are red dates, pearl barley…

And corn…

Two ears of corn; husk removed and cut into halves.

Old Cucumber Soup

• Bring 3 soup bowls-ful of water to a boil, and pop in the old cucumber and corn. Let the liquids return to a boil before reducing the heat to low, and allowing the soup to simmer for about 1 to 1½ hours, or until the old cucumber is meltingly tender.

• About 30-40 minutes before the soup is ready, pour in the barley. [I usually avoid cooking the barley for an extended period of time, as this will produce a slightly “cloudy” soup with a thicker, somewhat “starchy-esque” consistency, reminiscent of a “barley water” drink (for those who are familiar with South East Asian drinks). The picture above actually shows the soup when the barley has been cooked for a long period of time; yes, I decided to put up pictures of how I don’t like to cook the soup! It is still perfectly drinkable and very tasty, but I just tend to prefer the soup to be clear and light in consistency. If you prefer a more viscous soup, add the barley at the beginning, together with the old cucumber and the corn.]

• 20 minutes before the soup is ready to be removed from the stove, add the dried red dates. [As mentioned in the previous post on Carrot Soup, it is best to cook the red dates for a short period of time. With extended cooking, the red dates will render the soup with a sour overtone.]

• Again, I don’t usually add any salt or other seasonings to the soup; preferring instead to simply let the delicate and subtle sweetness of the old cucumber, corn and red dates shine through. However, you may of course choose to season with salt to taste.

Note:
A variant of the soup can be made using chicken breast meat instead of corn to sweeten the soup and to give it body. Simply substitute the two ears of corn with one piece of bone-in, skinless chicken breast.

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On a separate note, I have had several queries about the kind of pot I use to cook soups in. So, here it is…

This is what I use. It is a multi-layer insulated stainless steel thermal pot. However, most of the time, I no longer use the thermal plate which comes with the pot. I prefer to simply keep the pot on the electric element (it cannot be used on a gas flame) throughout the soup’s cooking process. And because of the way the pot is built (sorry, I don’t know the technical details), this speeds up the cooking time somewhat.

I understand that there is now a whole new generation of thermal pots on the market (my pot is 15 years old!), and these are great for cooking soups too – producing very flavorful results with nicely tender ingredients.

However, while a thermal pot is highly convenient in that you don’t have to stick around to watch the pot (literally speaking), any type of pot or saucepan with a lid can be used to cook soups. The only difference would perhaps be that some adjustments need to be made to the cooking times that I have stated in the recipes. So, fret not for a thermal pot if you are without. Soups cook well in just about anything!

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Old cucumber soup… a wonderfully refreshing and nourishing soup. Old cucumber is said to be great for cooling and detoxifying the body’s system; barley is another natural cleansing and detoxifying ingredient; and red dates are said by the Chinese to be able to help build the blood and fortify the immune system.

Old cucumber soup… soup for both body and soul.

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, publish, distribute or display any of the images or text contained in this article.