← Nouns Cooking · Malaysian & Singaporean

Ingredients

• 1 Mature (old) yellow cucumber (lou wong kua), about 700 g
• 400 g pork ribs or a chicken carcass
• 2 l Water
• 10 Dried Chinese red dates (jujubes, hong zao), rinsed
• 1 Carrot, cut into chunks
• 1 corn on the cob, cut into rounds (optional)
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked (optional)
• 1 tbsp Dried goji berries (optional)
• salt, to taste

Method

1. Blanch the ribs in boiling water for 3–4 min, then drain and rinse.
2. Scrub the cucumber, halve it lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Cut into thick chunks, keeping the skin on for flavour.
3. Put the ribs, cucumber, red dates, carrot, corn and mushrooms (if using) in a pot with the water. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer on low for 1½ hours.
4. Add the goji berries for the last 10 min. Skim off any fat and season with salt.

Tips

• Look for heavy, golden-brown cucumbers with cracked, netted skin at Asian grocers; ordinary cucumbers turn mushy.
• Chinese families often add dried scallops, cuttlefish or oysters for extra sweetness.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Malaysian Chinese Kitchen Huang Kitchen Noob Cook