Kelp, mung bean & pork rib soup with tangerine peel
A fragrant, cooling summer soup of kelp and mung beans, served with a bright tomato and egg stir-fry and rice.
- 1 hr 30 min
- Serves 3
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Qi Stagnation brings low mood, a tight chest and light sleep, and Summer Solstice's muggy heat adds irritability. Tangerine peel moves qi, kelp and mung beans clear heat and ease knots, and a red-and-yellow tomato and egg stir-fry brightens appetite and mood.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 75 min- 1Soak the kelp for 30 minutes, rinse off any grit and cut into pieces; rinse the mung beans; soak the tangerine peel and scrape off the pith. Blanch the ribs from cold water for 3 minutes and rinse.
- 2Bring the water to the boil with the ribs, mung beans, peel and ginger. Boil for 10 minutes, simmer for 40, then add the kelp, simmer 20 minutes more and salt.
- 3Meanwhile cut the tomatoes into wedges. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, scramble in the hot oiled wok until half set and lift out, then fry the tomatoes until juicy and toss the egg back in.
- 4Bring the soup, tomato and egg and rice to the table together; the ribs can be eaten as soup meat.
Cautions
- Kelp is very high in iodine — avoid it if you have an overactive thyroid or are being treated for a thyroid condition.
- Kelp and mung beans are cooling: go easy during diarrhoea or period pain, and don't skip the ginger.
Chef's tips
- The white bloom on dried kelp is natural flavour — after soaking, just rinse off the grit rather than scrubbing it away.
The TCM view
Aged tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm; it moves qi and supports digestion. Kelp is salty and cold, softening knots and resolving phlegm; mung beans are sweet and cold and clear summer heat and irritability; pork ribs are sweet, salty and neutral; ginger warms the stomach; tomato is sweet and sour and whets the appetite. Moves qi and releases pent-up heat without hurting spleen yang.
