Crucian carp soup with adzuki beans & toasted coix seed
Pan-fried crucian carp simmered into a milky soup with adzuki beans and toasted coix seed to clear damp, plus blanched pea shoots.
- 1 hr 20 min
- Serves 3
- Simmer
- Medium
Why it suits you: Phlegm-Dampness brings heaviness, tiredness and phlegm, and Rain Water's muggy weather adds damp from outside too. Crucian carp, adzuki beans and toasted coix seed strengthen digestion and drain water in a light, low-fat soup that keeps portions in check.
Method
Prep 20 min · Cook 60 min- 1Rinse the adzuki beans and toasted coix seed and soak for 1 hour (or from the morning). Soften the peel and scrape off the pith.
- 2Rinse the fish and pat dry with kitchen paper. Heat the oil with the ginger and fry the fish over medium heat until golden on both sides.
- 3Put the fried fish in a soup bag and add it to 2 litres of boiling water with the beans, coix seed and peel.
- 4Boil hard for 10 minutes until the soup turns milky, then simmer over medium-low heat for 45 minutes. Salt just before serving.
- 5While the soup simmers, blanch the pea shoots for 1 minute. Serve with half a bowl of rice each and stop at 70% full.
Cautions
- Avoid coix seed in pregnancy — use fox nut instead.
Chef's tips
- Toasted coix seed is plain coix dry-fried over low heat until lightly golden; herb shops also sell it ready-made.
- Heat the wok well before adding the oil and pat the fish dry, so the skin doesn't stick or tear.
The TCM view
Crucian carp is sweet and neutral and drains damp; adzuki beans are sweet, sour and neutral and ease water retention; coix seed is sweet, bland and cool, and toasting tames its coolness for damp, chilly days; tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm and dries damp and resolves phlegm; ginger warms. Neutral overall, it clears damp without weakening digestion.
