Chicken bone herb and pork pancreas soup with garlic angled luffa
A time-honoured Hong Kong soup for clearing liver heat — chicken bone herb and pork pancreas clear heat and damp — with a quick plate of garlic angled luffa.
- 2 hr 5 min
- Serves 3
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp-heat types tend to have a bitter mouth, dry eyes, dark urine and spots, all worse in Grain Rain's muggy heat. Chicken bone herb is a classic soup herb for clearing liver heat and damp-heat, pork pancreas supports digestion and moistens, and angled luffa clears heat and drains water — a fresh, light meal.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 110 min- 1Soak the chicken bone herb for 15 minutes, rinse off any grit and cut into lengths. Blanch the pancreas and pork and rinse.
- 2Bring the water to the boil, add the herb, pancreas, pork, dates and ginger, boil hard for 15 minutes, then simmer for 1½ hours. Season with salt.
- 3Just before serving, heat the oil in a wok, fry the garlic until fragrant, add the luffa and stir-fry over high heat for 2 minutes until soft.
- 4Add a little salt and 2 tbsp water, cover for 1 minute, then serve straight away with the soup and rice.
Cautions
- Chicken bone herb is cooling: avoid it if your digestion runs cold, you get diarrhoea or you're pregnant. Its seeds are toxic, so buy herb with the pods removed.
Chef's tips
- Peel off the hard ridges of the luffa but leave some green skin so it stays bright and crisp.
The TCM view
Chicken bone herb is sweet, slightly bitter and cool; it clears heat, drains damp and soothes the liver. Pork pancreas is sweet and neutral, strengthening the spleen and moistening dryness. Angled luffa is sweet and cool, clearing heat and phlegm and cooling the blood; candied dates and lean pork are sweet and moistening, softening the bitterness and coolness. It clears damp-heat without hurting the stomach.
