Watercress Soup

Eating out everyday in Houston can be expensive, so I cook pretty often at home.

We can save quite a lot of money, maybe a few hundred dollars a month.

Furthermore, grocery shopping in Houston is so nice and affordable. And USA is like a big supermarket, it has everything!! That makes cooking so fun! 

Besides that, cooking keeps me somewhat busy as a housewife.

The disadvantages of cooking at home are cleaning, and cleaning and more cleaning.

You may say, most household in USA has a dishwater, so why not use that? Dishwater uses up a lot of water, and it uses heater too...we try not to waste water and energy, since it's just the 2 of us.

I was happy to find watercress in the Asian grocery market. I love watercress! It's one of my favorite vegetables. It's pack with lots of vitamins and minerals that are good for you and me. 

We can eat watercress raw, as a juice, stir fried or as a soup. What's your favorite way of eating watercress?

Watercress soup recipe

Ingredients, serves 3.

• 400 g spare ribs
• 2 bundle fresh watercress
• 7 red dates
• 6 bowls of water
• Handful dried scallop (dried scallops are expensive in USA, so I use them sparingly)
• Handful goji berries
• salt to taste

Preparation, (prep time : 20 minutes, cooking time : 1 hour)

1. Soak and wash watercress.
2. Drain and chop watercress into 4-inch sections
3. In a small pot, boil some water. When boiling, scald spare ribs for 3 minutes, or until spare ribs change color. Drain. This step is to remove the porky pork smell.
4. Meanwhile, soak the goji berry and dates in hot water, then mixed with cold water for 1 minute. Drain. This step will make your goji berry still firm and bouncy even after cooking.
5. Meanwhile, in a soup pot, bring the 6 bowls of water to boil. Add red dates, goji berry, and scallop.
6. Then add the spare ribs from step 3.
7. Add watercress when water has been brought to boil, this is to prevent watercress from turning bitter. Reduce heat to low and continue simmering for an hour with lid on. Season soup with salt to taste.
8. Serve hot and enjoy