Seafood Winter Melon Soup (海鮮冬瓜羹, Hoi2 Sin1 Dung1 Gwaa1 Gang1)

I made this tasty soup for my family’s 2015 Christmas dinner. The soup is loaded with lots of seafood and is a special occasion type dish. The other main ingredient is winter melon. Winter melon is really a gourd used mainly in soups, but I’ve also used it in these stir fry recipes: Chicken and Rock Shrimp with Winter Melon (冬瓜蝦仁雞, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Haa¹ Jan⁴ Gai¹), Winter Melon with Dried Shrimp (冬瓜蝦米, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Haa¹ Mai⁵), and Stir Fried Beef with Winter Melon (冬瓜炒牛肉, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Caau² Ngau⁴ Juk⁶). So winter melon can be quite versatile, but cooks quickly and becomes mushy if overcooked.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to use fresh local crabs due to a deadly neurotoxin contamination, so I used imported (from another state) freshly cooked crab from my local grocery store. I used the meat from two cooked Dungeness crabs and that produced about 1 lb. (500 g.) of meat. If you’re not fortunate enough to have freshly cooked crabs available, canned or frozen crab can be used. Crab is not the only seafood that can be used, and abalone or sea cucumber can be used as substitutes.

The soup stock was made using the Bone Soup (湯, Tong¹) recipe. You can used a prepared soup stock, but the taste of the soup is heavily dependent upon the quality of the ingredients. So if you’re going to all the trouble and expense to make this soup, you should make your own soup stock. The last Chinese character in the recipe’s name, 羹 (gang¹), signifies that this is a thick soup. A thick soup means that a corn starch solution is added to thicken the soup. The amount of thickener added to the soup depends upon personal preference, but the soup should be thicker than a normal soup and not thicker than a very thick gravy.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Chicken breast meat (雞胸肉, gai1 hung1 juk6), cut into thin 1-inch (2.5 cm.) strips
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Baking soda (蘇打粉, sou1 daa2 fan2)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 lb.	500 g.	Prawn or shrimp meat (蝦仁, haa1 jan4)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Baking soda (蘇打粉, sou1 daa2 fan2)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Tapioca starch (木薯澱粉, muk6 syu4 din6 fan2)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 oz.	30 g.	Dried scallops (瑤柱, jiu4 cyu5), rehydrated
16 oz.	454 g.	One package fish tofu (魚豆腐, jyu4 dau6 fu6)
16 oz.	454 g.	One package imitation shark’s fin (魚翅, jyu4 ci3)
1 lb.	500 g.	Crab meat (蟹肉, haai5 juk6) – meat from about two Dungeness crabs
2 lb.	1 kg.	Winter melon (冬瓜, haai5 juk6), skin removed and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) cubes
1 in.	30 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), cleaned and sliced into thin pieces
12	12	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
6 oz.	170 g.	One package fresh cloud ear fungus (雲耳, wan4 ji5)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
6 Tbs.	90 ml.	Water
4 qt.	4 L.	Bone soup (recipe can be found here)

 

Equipment

8 qt.	7.5 L.	Pot
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

This recipe easily makes twelve bowls of soup and can be adjusted to make soup for fewer people.

Instructions (One Day Before)

1. The stock for this soup is based on the Bone Soup (湯, Tong¹) recipe, which should be prepared at least one day ahead.
2. Imitation shark’s fin and fish tofu usually comes frozen and can be found at your local Asian market. Thaw the imitation shark’s fin and fish tofu overnight in the refrigerator.
3. If using frozen prawn or shrimp, thaw in a covered container overnight in the refrigerator. Shell and devein the shrimp, and place the shrimp back into the covered container. Submerge the shrimp with water and some ice, and add the baking soda for 30 minutes. Discard the water and wash the baking soda from the shrimp.
4. Marinate the shrimp overnight with the ginger crushed in a garlic press, tapioca starch, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. In the USA, the names prawn and shrimp are used interchangeably, with prawn usually meaning a large shrimp; either will work in this dish. Take the shrimp out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
5. If using fresh cooked crab, separate the meat from the shells and store in a covered container in the refrigerator. If using frozen crab meat, thaw the crab in the refrigerator overnight.
6. Prepare the chicken breast meat by removing any bones, excess fat, and skin. Cut the chicken into thin 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces. Wet with water and add baking soda to the chicken, allow to tenderize for 15 minutes, and then wash the baking soda from the meat. The baking soda can be omitted but results in the tender meat experienced in restaurant dishes.
7. Marinate the chicken in a covered container for overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.
8. Pour boiling water over the dried scallops in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the scallops for at least one hour or overnight (preferred).

Instructions (Cooking Day)

1. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid, remove the stems, and cut them into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces if using large whole mushrooms.
2. Take the shrimp, chicken, imitation shark’s fin, fish tofu, and crab meat out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
3. Wash the cloud ear fungus and remove any hard parts from the fungus.
4. Remove the tough outer skin of the ginger and slice into thin pieces. Scraping the ginger’s skin with a spoon is a fast and easy way to remove the skin without wasting much of the ginger.
5. Remove the seeds and skin from the winter melon. Use a spoon or your hands to remove the seeds, and a sharp knife to remove the skin. Cut the winter melon into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) cubes. Two pounds (1 kg.) of winter melon with seeds and skin will yield about 1.5 lb. (750 g.) of winter melon meat.
6. Mix the corn starch and water together in a small bowl.
7. Put the bone soup stock, ginger slices, scallops, scallop rehydration liquid, imitation shark’s fin, Shiitake mushrooms, cloud ear fungus, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, and ground pepper into the cooking pot. Put the pot over high heat and bring the contents to a boil.
8. Reduce the heat to medium-high, add the chicken, crab meat, shrimp, fish tofu and to the soup stock, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. The soup should almost or just be boiling before adding the winter melon to the soup and cooking for 2-3 minutes.
9. Taste the soup and adjust the flavor, adding small amounts of soy sauce at a time. The soy sauce can be omitted if desired.
10. The soup should not be boiling when the corn starch solution is added, otherwise the soup will become lumpy. However, in order to thicken the soup, the soup must be brought to a boil. So the heat must first be reduced until the soup stops boiling, then the corn starch solution added slowly while stirring constantly, and then the heat increased while stirring until the soup boils. Once the soup boils, the thickness can be determined. If the consistency is not adequate, then the procedure must be repeated until the desired thickness is achieved. The thickness of the soup is a personal preference, and should be somewhere between the thickness of normal soup and that of a thin gravy.
11. Turn off the heat and transfer the soup to serving bowls. Some sesame oil can be added to the serving bowls before serving if desired.