Kudzu root, adzuki bean and mud carp soup
The damp-clearing soup Hong Kong families drink in the muggy months — pan-fried mud carp gives a sweet, golden broth that suits the whole family.
- 2 hr 5 min
- Serves 4
- Simmer
- Medium
Why it suits you: Grain Rain, the last term of spring, is damp and starting to heat up, and even Balanced types can feel heavy and off their food. This is Hong Kong's go-to damp-clearing soup: kudzu clears heat and eases thirst, adzuki beans drain water and mud carp strengthens digestion — sweet-tasting and not too cooling.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 110 min- 1Rinse the adzuki and hyacinth beans and soak for 1 hour. Soak the tangerine peel and scrape off the pith. Blanch the pork.
- 2Pat the fish dry. Heat the oil with the ginger and fry the fish until golden on both sides, then put it in a soup bag.
- 3Bring the water to the boil, add everything, boil hard for 15 minutes, then simmer gently for 1½ hours.
- 4Season with salt. The kudzu and pork are good dipped in soy sauce as a side dish.
Cautions
- Kudzu is cooling, so go easy if your digestion runs cold or you have loose stools — or add two more slices of ginger.
Chef's tips
- Mud carp is very bony, so always use a soup bag. Frying it golden first makes the soup fragrant rather than fishy.
The TCM view
Kudzu root is sweet, pungent and cool; it relieves heat and generates fluids. Adzuki beans are sweet, sour and neutral, draining water and damp and reducing swelling. Mud carp is sweet and neutral, strengthening the spleen and draining water. Hyacinth beans support the spleen and clear damp; tangerine peel moves qi and dries damp; candied dates moisten and harmonise. It clears heat and damp without upsetting digestion.
