Old Cucumber Soup!

After so long, I finally persuaded my mum to cook/boil some soup for me. Yeah, we cater so my mum seldom cooks. And the craving for soup comes once in a while. A nice steaming hot soup is excellent for cold weathers! Cream soups are not that suitable for me because well, they're creamy and don't possess that subtle, herby flavour. Not much omph, to shorten words. A chinese will always be chinese. Nothing beats chinese style boiled soup. =D

Old Cucumber is my favourite so I'm sharing this recipe with you guys. =D
Ingredients:
400g of pork bones. *not the full bones of course. have some meat on em'!*
A handful or more of red dates
A handful or more of wolfberries. (kei chi)
A handful of dried longans (this is optional, but it makes the soup sweeter)
A cube of chicken stock
1 old cucumber

Method:
1. Boil the pork till they are half cooked. Leave to cool for later use.

2. Wash the old cucumber then scrape the brown skin of with a knife. Don't peel the skin. Just scrape it off and you'll see a layer of green inside.

3. Cut the old cucumber in half and then into three sections. Or you can cut it in any lengths as you wish. Its really up to you. Remember to remove the seeds! unlike ordinary cucumber, its not necessary to cut off the edge of the cucumber and rub off the sap. My mum laughed at me when I did that. = =

4. Boil a pot of water and put in the half cooked pork bones. let it boil for a few more minutes then add the wolfberries, red dates, and longans. 

5. Cover the pot and let it boil for about ten to fifteen more minutes. 

6. Add the chicken stock cube and cucumber. Stir with a ladle before covering and reducing to a simmer for about 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can use salt and sugar to season the soup. We don't use salt and sugar because we're not that sure of the ratio. Chicken stock works best for us.

7. Place the pot of soup into a warmer and leave it there till its time to serve. You guys probably don't have a warmer so you can let the soup simmer for about 2-3 hours. Is works either way.

tadaaa! a steaming hot bowl of old cucumber soup! excellent for cold days. =)