Sea Cucumber Soup
Sea Cucumber Soup - Hoy Tom
3½ lb. pork butt, cut into chunks
4 lb. chicken legs and thighs
1-2 cans chicken broth or chicken boullion mixed with water
¾ lb. ginger root, sliced in ¼” pieces
4-5 pieces chung choy (salty vegetable wrapped in a ball or flat), rinsed and diced
6-8 red dates
clove of garlic
2 6-oz. pkg of chinese herbs (eg. lotus seeds, gingko, pearl barley, dried lily, longan)
6-8 dried squid, 6” long including tentacles (comes in package)
6-8 dried oysters
12-15 medium black mushrooms
6-7 lb. frozen sea cucumber, already pre-soaked
5-6 pieces white fungus
1 T. guy ju (little red things)
3-4 C. pearl barley
The night before cooking, thaw out sea cucumber, pre-soak dried squid and dried oysters. On the day of cooking, take out membrane (thin, clear plastic cartilage) and eyeball from squid. Rinse both squid and oysters several times to get sand out, and cut into bite-size pieces. Scrape off any ash found on the sea cucumber, and remove the guts. Slice the sea cucumber into small pieces (about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick and width of sea cucumber). Put aside.
Thirty minutes before cooking, pre-soak chung choy and red dates. Like the squid and oysters, the chung choy needs to be rinsed several times to get sand out. Once chung choy has been soaked, you can cut into several pieces. Through the cooking process, the chung choy will break up anyway.
In a large, open 20 qt. pot, boil the chicken legs and thighs, and the pork butt. Remove the scum that collects on on the top. Once it boils, turn the heat down to simmer (after 1 ½ hours of simmering, the chicken meat should just fall off the bone). Add chung choy, clove of garlic, salt, red dates (which adds sweetness), 2 packages of chinese herbs, squid, oysters and guy ju. Stir often enough so the bottom will not scorch, and continue removing scum from top. Evaporation will occur; add water as needed.
90 minutes before serving, pre-soak mushroom and white fungus. After ½ hour, cut mushrooms in half and add to pot. Remove the hard center from fungus, setting aside the soft parts.
1 hour before serving, rinse powder off pearl barley and soak for 45 minutes.
15 minutes before serving, add sea cucumber, white fungus and pearl barley. The sea cucumber and white fungus will dissolve if put too early in the pot; wait until the end. The pearl barley will thicken the soup. Remember to add water if the water level gets too low.
For smaller parties, reduce recipe accordingly. Most items can be found in an oriental grocery store.
Sea Cucumber comes in dark and light color. The light color is more expensive, but better quality. Use a mixture of both.
Serves 50.
