Brr Chilly! Hot Soup!

Shark Fin Soup Surprise @ LiPeony

Brr! It's November and it's getting chilly... it's times like these that I savor the many many different soups my mom boils up. Growing up there was hardly a day that goes by that I don't drink some weird concoction of soup that my grandma or mom makes. Now I'm sure everyone has heard of Hot and Sour Soup or Won ton Soup or Shark Fin soup but there are so many soup recipes that are passed down from family to family and shared among friends. Each one is made for a specific ailment. In fact there's a soup for every ailment. Though it's hard to near impossible to really find any Chinese restaurant that serves these homemade soups as there are far too many and their textures and tastes range from sweet "papaya and fish soup" to the bitterest soup consisting of an herb that makes my tongue want to run away from my mouth.

But there is one soup I love that's great for the winter it's sort of like the Chinese version of beef stew. It's called Oxtail Soup. Basically oxtail bones/meat, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes boiled. The meat is tender and falls right off the bone, the carrots and potatoes are soft but slightly favored by the beef soup base that has the pinch of sour and acidity from the tomatoes. My mom would make it in a huge earthen clay pot we have at home.

Li Family Oxtail Soup

1 large carrot (more if you like carrots/less if you don't like'em)
3 large potatoes (more if you like potatoes/less if you don't)
1 large tomato (adds a nice acidic sour taste but if you don't like it, don't add too much)
1 whole ox tail (usually the butcher will cut into large chunks)
4 quarts of water

Chop the vegetables into large chunks. Bring the water to a boil and put all the ingredients inside. Boil for 1 - 1.5 hours depend on how soft you want the vegetables to be (My mom does 2 hours and everything is very soft but not mushy) The great thing about this recipe is that you can add any substitute for the vegetables though this is the traditional one I have at home. It makes a great soup over rice or just by itself a awesome hot steamy meal. According to my mom it promotes the circulatory system... but who knows? It just tastes awesome to me.

Until next time... stay warm!