Chap Cai T'ng aka Mixed Vegetables Soup

I hate being on the verge of being full blown sick. The sniffles, the watery eyes, ticklish throat.  I use every heavy artillery I have in my arsenal to knock those germs on the head. And yet, sometimes it all heads south, and I am just miserable, wallowing in self pity. It is at this point where I want to drown myself in all that is comforting, in particular, soup. It's just like a warm snuggly blanket for the insides.

Chap Cai T'ng is in Hokkien, literally translating to mixed vegetables in English. It was one of my late ah ma's (grandma) favourite dishes and my go-to when I need something to soothe my dreary soul.

Clear soup is so easy to prepare and they are delicious and healthy.  In Chinese culture, different combination of ingredients can be a remedy for whatever ailments you are suffering from.  The list is endless. 

With this soup, can serve this along with other dinner dishes (either as a starter, or to finish your meal), or if unwell like me, you can make a one bowl meal with some noodles.

Ingredients :

300g pork mince

10 prawns, minced

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of corn flour

2 tablespoon of water

1 inch of ginger

1/4 cabbage, chopped into squares

3 or 4 carrots, cut into bite size cubes 

2L of water

5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup oil 

Steps :

Marinate the pork and prawn meat with soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, sugar, corn flour and water. Set aside in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

In a pot, bring 2L water to boil and add in the ginger, carrots and cabbage. Using a teaspoon, scoop up the pork and prawn mixture to become bite size balls and add in the pot. Let it simmer over low heat for 2 hours.

To make garlic oil:

In a pan, heat the oil and add in the chopped garlic. Remove from heat and let the hot oil cook the garlic itself so that it will not burn. Transfer to a bowl.

If you are serving with noodles, boil some noodles (egg noodles, rice noodlers, whatever takes your fancy) and pour the soup over the noodles. Drizzle the garlic oil over the soup. 

Serve hot.

I love to eat my noodle soup with sambal 

This soup is also perfect for cold winter nights, or you feel like something light to eat. Please don't think it is just designed for sooky people when they are sick!