Pig Stomach Soup - A Confinement Meal

Dearest readers,

It has been a while. Over a year, in fact.

Other than the usual excuses such as work and life in general, the main reason for my year long hiatus is that I have been busy checking off an important life milestone... 

Baby Charlie

Around seven weeks ago, Jason and I welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. In the months leading up to this, I battled immense tiredness and thus spent most of my free time sleeping. Now, I spend most of my day hanging out with baby Charlie, snatching little bits of free time when he sleeps.

During the first month of Charlie's life, I was incredibly lucky to have my parents nearby to cook meals and help out around the house so I could rest up. During this time, I observed the Chinese tradition of confinement.

Traditionally, the Chinese mother observes a month of confinement following labour to concentrate on her own recovery and bonding with her baby. Confinement, or "zuo yue zi", involves an extensive set of rules mostly focused on preventing "dampness" from entering the body and restoring "heat" and "qi". Staying inside a completely closed up house, avoiding showers and cold water helps to keep the damp away while recovery is helped along by consuming a variety of heat restoring foods. 

One of my favourite meals during this month was pig stomach soup. Traditional Chinese Medicine believes this soup warms the stomach, invigorates qi and fortifies the body. The addition of red dates, lotus seeds, and pepper help to replenish blood loss and warm the body.

The soup is also delicious so I have made it a couple times after the end of my confinement. After all, what is better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold day? 

Trimming fat from the inside of the pig stomach

For those who haven't cooked with it before, raw pig stomach is quite smelly. A bit of preparation is required to remove the mucous membrane and extra fat to get rid of the slime and smell. This sounds gross but, once cooked, the taste is very mild.

My local butcher sells pre-cleaned pig stomachs which speeds up the process for me but, for those of you who don't have that luxury, Annielicious Food blog has a great how-to which explains the process.

Stir frying mushrooms, red dates, spring onion, and peppers

Texture-wise, pig stomach has a firm, chewy texture so it requires a long cooking time to soften. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, pig offal should be boiled at least twice to properly fortify our bodies and organs and, because I am impatient, I use a pressure cooker to speed up the process.

My dad stuffing pig stomach

The other ingredients are fried briefly to release their aroma. Stuffing the pig stomach with the other ingredients helps to infuse the soup while protecting their integrity during the double cooking process. 

Use scissors to cut open 

For the last cook, the pig stomach is cut into bite sized pieces and the other ingredients are released into the soup. Using a pair of food scissors removes the need to wait for the soup to cool down and means that all the flavours are kept within the soup!

If you are looking to try offal, this is a great introduction. The soup is light and peppery and the soft, chewy pieces pig stomach offer a nice bite.

Pig Stomach Soup (serves 4)



Ingredients:

50g dried white lotus seeds
5 red dates, seeds removed
5 dried black Chinese mushrooms
1 pig stomach, cleaned and trimmed
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon peppercorns, crushed
5cm of spring onion (white part)
Soy sauce for serving
Shaoxing wine for serving

Method:


1. Soak lotus seeds, red dates, and Chinese mushrooms for at least three hours to hydrate
2. Stuff lotus seeds into the cleaned pig stomach and seal off the cavity with a bamboo skewer. Place into a pressure cooker and fill the pot with enough water to cover. Lock the lid and cook on high until pressure is reached. Turn the heat to low and cook for a further 10 minutes
3. While the pressure cooker is going, roughly chop the dates, mushrooms and spring onion. Heat up sesame oil in shallow pan and quickly stir fry these ingredients along with the peppercorns until fragrant. Turn off heat and set aside until the pressure cooker 
4. When the pressure in the pressure cooker has been released, add the stir fried ingredients to the cavity and seal it off again
5. Return the pressure cooker to high heat. When pressure is reached, turn the heat to low and cook for a further 5 minutes
6. When the pressure has released, use a pair of clean food scissors to cut open the pig stomach into bite size pieces. Alternatively, you can transfer the pig stomach onto a chopping board and cut open with a knife (make sure it is cool enough to handle first)
7. Return all ingredients to the pressure cooker and cook on high for 5 minutes or until the pig stomach is soft
8. Serve hot. Season individual bowls with soy sauce and Shaoxing wine to taste

Sage and Kumara Soup

I was about 12 or 13 when I had my first taste of pumpkin soup. Up until then, the only pumpkin flavoured food I had was in the form of dessert (pumpkin and red bean anyone?) and the idea of a savoury pumpkin sounded absolutely absurd. And herbs? My Chinese palate had yet to discover those!

I remember being quite excited about pumpkin soup, thinking how lucky my friends were to be able to have what is essentially a dessert for a meal. I can proudly tell you that I was ever so polite and finished my meal but I was thoroughly confused. 

I went home and shared this revelation with my mother who, incidentally, had experienced the same thing just a few months prior -with Kumara soup. At home, our idea of kumara soup is to boil large chunks of kumara in hot water. That's it. It doesn't sound terribly exciting but I can assure you it is tasty.

We bonded over crazy western foods that night.

Since then, my palate has developed considerably and there is not a lot I won't eat. While pureed soup is not my ultimate favourite food, it is up there on my list of winter warmers because it is so easy to make but packed full of goodness. 

If you have find yourself a little short of time after work this week, give this Sage and Kumara Soup a try. Everything cooks in one pot so clean up is also a breeze!

Sage and Kumara Soup
(Serves 4, adapted from Mindfood, June 2015 issue)

Ingredients:

1 Tbs olive oil
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces
2 onions, roughly sliced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1.2 kg golden kumara, peeled and chopped
1 Tbs sage, roughly torn
1.5 L chicken or vegetable stock

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add bacon and fry until crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Keep the oil and bacon fat in the pan.
2. Add onions and 1/3 cup of stock. Use a wooden spoon to uplift any bacon bits that have stuck to the pan. Cook until onion is soft and translucent and the stock is mostly evaporated.
3. Add garlic and stir until fragrant.
4. Add kumara, sage and remaining stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the kumara is soft.
5. Use a stick blender to puree the kumara until smooth and season with salt and pepper.
6. Sprinkle bacon bits on top and serve with warm bread.