: : Peanut Soup : :

A bit more about this peanut soup. I’m a Chinese so we cook it with pork. However, I think it should be okay with chicken.

It’s a common soup made at home and very easy to do. However, might take some time to do it because the peanuts need to be soft. Not too soft that it disintegrate but still soft enough to bite through without the crunchy sound.

Most homemade Chinese soup are clear i.e. no cornflour added inside. So, it’s a very light soup and not too heavy. This peanut soup is very good for one’s health although I have to check with Granny what it’s good for. Sometimes, instead of peanut, she puts in red kidney beans. The taste is slightly different but still good.

A typical Chinese meal at home will have soup. I know my Dad needs it! Throughout the coming days, I will start putting up other types of soup. Nowadays, these soups can be eaten at the foodcourt which sells different types of clear soup like pork stomach with pepper, chicken soup with carrots, bittergourd stuff with meat soup and others.

Still, the best soups I’ve tasted so far is always at home!

: : Grandma’s Cooking : :

Bit late today so think I’ll skip the lunch menu for today and save it for tomorrow. It was a lousy kueh chap anyway (pork soup cooked in soy sauce, garlic with flat noodles).

Today, Granny cooked my sis’ favourite soup : peanut soup with pork ribs. So, here it is!

Peanut Soup with Pork Ribs

Actually, the peanut is very soft. Granny’s simple instructions :

Boil the raw peanuts in water over a slow fire. DO NOT PUT SALT IN!!! Need to ensure the peanut is 3/4 cook by tasting the peanuts. If not enough water, add more in. The soup will turn slightly reddish brown but that’s okay. It’s also to cook the peanut with the skin on. If you want more peanuts, put more in.

Add in the pork ribs and boil over slow fire. DO NOT PUT SALT IN!!!

Once pork ribs are cooked i.e. soft, add in the salt, pepper and Ajinomoto. Ajinomoto = MSG but only a little bit i.e. a pinch should be sufficient. For those who are not used to taking MSG, then you can skip this step.

The shiny stuff in the soup is actually the fat coming from the pork meat as well as some from the peanut. Throw in a cabbage leaf to soak up the fat and then throw away the cabbage leaf. At least, I remember it was a cabbage leaf. Or was it lettuce?

Granny doesn’t give much measurements for the cooking ingredients. Everything is added in as per each person’s taste so will leave it at that.

Anyway, sis, here’s looking at you!