Yen Can Cook: Papaya White Fungus Soup
Many will misunderstanding that I’m going to share recipe of the sweet dessert 木瓜雪耳糖水 by just looking at my post title 😛 Actually this is a savoury soup recipe which is using similar ingredients with the former.
Unripe green papaya is used in this recipe because ripe papaya will become too soft/mushy after long hours boiling. Green papaya is said to help in digestion, removing toxins from the body and refreshing the skin from the inside out. The enzymes and Vitamin A found in green papaya is also believe to stimulate the secretion of female hormones estrogen and prolactin which can assist in breast development for teenage girls. Unripe green papayas can help to increase milk production in lactating mothers.
Ingredients (Serve: 3-4)
1 small green papaya
300g pork ribs
2 clumps (about 1 palm-sized) of White Fungus/Snow Fungus (雪耳), soak until soft then cut into small pieces
1 candied jujube (蜜枣)
Handful of red dates (de-seeded) & wolfberries (goji)
20mml water
Salt to taste
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Step 1: Put the pork ribs into a pot of water and bring to boil, to remove blood and impurities. Remove, drain and set aside.
Step 2: Peel and remove the seeds from the green papaya, cut into big chunks.
Step 3: Put all the ingredients (except woldberries & salt) into a pot and add in water until enough to immerse all the ingredients. Bring to boil and lower the heat and let the soup simmer for 2-3 hours.
Step 4: Add in wolfberries and boil for another 5 minutes. Add salt to taste & serve.
For sweet version, omit the pork ribs and salt, add in rock sugar instead.
HAPPY COOKING!
The idea of papaya in a soup is quite strange to me. But I don’t mind trying out to satisfy my curiosity.
Hope you like the soup after trying, PH 🙂
I also have not boiled soup using papayas before. This green papaya is the usual ripe papaya we buy to eat?
Green papaya is unripe/slight raw one 🙂
I also thought this will be a sweet dessert but you used pork ribs! Yummy!
Gotcha! Haha, kidding 😛
ooo i’ve had papaya in a savoury soup before, and to be honest, i prefer papaya on its own. but your bowl does look appetising! 🙂
Ya I understand, many people will found it weird for using papaya to boil savoury soup. But I like variety and don’t like repeating cook the usual soup too often 😛
When I was breastfeeding, I drank papaya soup a lot (as it is a milk-booster) but without the white fungus.
My mom didn’t prepare this for me during confinement >_<