Lotus Root, Pork Rib Soup (莲藕排骨汤)

This is one of the most commonly Chinese tradition soup you can find selling in food courts and is not difficult to make.  All you need is the time to slowly boil the soup.  Hey, why need to pay that money to buy from outside when you can cook it yourself ?  Furthermore, you can put in more ingredients for yourself as compared to those small portion of ingredients when you buy outside !!!

Ingredients :-
莲藕，排骨，红枣，干蚝
Lotus Root, Pork Ribs, Red Dates and Dried Oysters.  Well some even put in Dried Octopus but Dried Octopus is not so easily bought from supermarket need to go those specialize shop to purchase ( like Chinatown ) so here I omitted out the Dried Octopus.  1 Lotus Root is enough, 1 packet of Pork Ribs also will do, a few Red Dates ( to make the soup taste a bit the sweet ) and a few Dried Oysters ( do not put too many Dried Oysters as it will affect the taste of the soup to the wrong side ) will do.

Cooking Instruction :-
1. Wash the Lotus Root thoroughly as we do not need to peel off the skin, if required scrub it to remove any soil or mud stuck at the Lotus Root.  Next cut it into slices as shown above.

2. Wash the Pork Ribs and rinse the Dried Oysters and Red Dates.

3. Boil a pot of water (85% filled with water) and a medium size pot will do enough for 5 person share.

4. When the pot of water boils, put in the Pork Ribs first.

5. Once the Pork Ribs are cooked, put in the Lotus Root, Dried Oysters and Red Dates.

6. Cover up the pot and switch the fire to small.  For those with Slow Cooker, put it to "Slow" will do.

7. Let the soup boils for at least 4 hours and it will be ready to serve.  After 4 hours of boiling under slow fire, the 85% of water probably left about 70% and if you instead use "strong fire" good luck to you, the soup probably left about 40% after 4 hours of boiling.  So remember use "SLOW FIRE" !!!

Look at the colour of the Lotus Root and if you put in too much Dried Oysters the strong smell will affect the taste of the soup.  Here you go Daddies, exactly the same as those selling outside !!!  So why need to pay that extra sum of money to buy when you can cook it for the family !!!