Old cucumber, adzuki bean and pork bone soup
The Cantonese summer soup every family makes: golden old cucumber simmered skin-on with adzuki beans and pork bones into a clean, lightly sweet broth.
- 2 hr
- Serves 4
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp heat grows stronger after Start of Summer, and a Damp-heat constitution is prone to a bitter taste, dark urine and feeling hot and irritable. Old cucumber clears heat and drains water and adzuki beans resolve damp and swelling; this is the heat-clearing soup Cantonese families make all summer, and cooking it skin-on is what makes it work.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 105 min- 1Rinse the adzuki beans and soak for 1 hour. Scrub the old cucumber, cut it into large chunks with the skin on and scoop out the pith and seeds.
- 2Put the pork bones in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and blanch for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse.
- 3Bring the water to the boil, add everything except the salt, boil hard for 15 minutes, then simmer over low heat for 1½ hours.
- 4Season with salt and serve.
Cautions
- Old cucumber is cooling, so drink less if your digestion runs cold or your stools are loose; adzuki beans are diuretic, so don't have this daily if you pass water frequently.
Chef's tips
- Choose an old cucumber with golden, crackled skin that feels heavy for its size, and keep the skin on — that's where most of its heat-clearing, draining action lies.
The TCM view
Old cucumber is sweet and cool, clearing heat, draining water and resolving toxins. Adzuki beans are sweet, sour and neutral, draining water, removing damp and reducing swelling. Pork bones are sweet, salty and neutral, nourishing and building strength so the soup isn't too cold; tangerine peel regulates qi and strengthens the spleen, and candied dates add a mellow sweetness. Clears heat and drains damp without harming the spleen — suited to Damp-heat.
