Pork Bone Soup with Lotus Roots and Peanuts

Purpose:

To stop bleeding and nourish blood.  To thicken stomach and intestine walls and fortify jing and qi.  To direct drainage of water and clear heat of intestines.  To nourish and lubricate muscles and skin.  To improve jing and marrow, and promote skeletal growth.     

Material:

Pork bones for soup （煲汤骨）                    500 g
Lotus roots (莲藕）                                      500 g
Peanuts （花生）                                           50 g
Salt                                                              some
          

Note:

Pork bones for soups are available from Chinese grocery stores.  These are bones (neck bones, shoulder bones, or spinal cords) with plenty of meat still attached.  You can ask the butcher to cut them into about 2 to 3 inches pieces if it is not already done.  Check to see if grocery stores other than Chinese ones have this kind of pork bones, as I am not quite aware of them.  The bones need to be boiled first in order to remove white foam and scum.  Fresh, frozen or dried lotus roots are available from Chinese grocers.  Dried lotus roots need to be soaked before cooking.  Peanuts with skins are to be used for full therapeutic effects.  If you just want the good taste of the soup, you can use peanuts without skins.  Lotus roots and peanuts in soups taste best when they are cooked enough to become loose and soft, so expect to cook for more than 3 hours. 

Procedure: 

a.   Rinse clean peanuts. Peel lotus roots and cut to about 1 inch pieces.

b.   Boil at high heat about 8 cups of water.  Add pork bones and boil for about 5 minutes.  Remove and rinse clean the bones.  Pour away the water.  Bring to boil at high heat another 9-10 cups of water in a clean pot.  Add bones, lotus roots, and peanuts.  

c.   Bring to boil at high heat and then reduce to low heat and let simmer for about 3 hours until lotus roots and peanuts are well cooked. 

d.   Add some salt to taste.  Ready to serve. 

        

Comment:

This is a tasty pork bone soup with an amber color, a light sweet taste, and a great aroma of thoroughly cooked peanuts.  The meat is ready to fall off the bones after cooking.  Both lotus roots and peanuts are delicious.  Stretchable silky threads can be seen when you bite on the well cooked lotus roots.  You can eat the soup right after cooking, or keep it in the refrigerator and eat later.  If you need to reduce fat intake, remember to leave the soup in the refrigerator for a few hours, and then take it out and see if there is any solid fat that can be removed from the top layer.  From my experience, these bones are usually quite lean, and there is little fat to be removed.  Microwave to warm up before serving.  Meat and bone soups always taste better when they are hot.

Lotus roots （莲藕）

 Peanuts （花生）

Pork bones for soup （煲汤骨）