Watermelon rind and lean pork soup with rice noodles
Don't throw away the watermelon rind! Simmered with shredded pork, then finished with bean sprouts over rice noodles, it makes a sweet, crunchy soup that clears heat and damp.
- 35 min
- Serves 2
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp heat peaks at Great Heat, and a Damp-Heat constitution easily gets a bitter taste in the mouth, dark urine, spots and sticky stools. Watermelon rind, known in TCM as the melon's green jade coat, clears summer heat and promotes urination while being less cold than the flesh; with pork and bean sprouts in a noodle soup, it cools you down and keeps you full.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 20 min- 1Pare off the green skin and any red flesh from the rind and cut it into thin strips. Shred the pork and marinate with the soy sauce and cornflour for 10 minutes.
- 2Soak the rice vermicelli in boiling water for 5 minutes until soft, drain and divide between bowls. Rinse the bean sprouts and pinch off the roots.
- 3Bring the water and ginger to the boil, add the rind and simmer for 8 minutes, add the pork and cook until it changes colour, then add the bean sprouts for 1 minute.
- 4Season with salt, ladle the soup over the noodles and scatter with spring onion.
Cautions
- Watermelon rind and bean sprouts are cooling, so eat less if your digestion runs cold or you have diarrhoea.
Chef's tips
- Pare off all the tough green skin and keep only the pale middle layer, so the rind is crisp.
The TCM view
Watermelon rind is sweet and cool, clearing summer heat, promoting urination and easing restlessness. Bean sprouts are sweet and cool, clearing heat, resolving toxins and draining damp; lean pork is sweet, salty and neutral, nourishing yin and moistening dryness without heaviness, and a little ginger settles the stomach. Together they clear heat and damp and ease thirst — suited to Damp-Heat in the height of summer.
