Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs 冬瓜排骨汤

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• How I Feel About This Chinese Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs
• Story Behind Chinese Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs
• Original Name
• Cooking Tips
• Cooking Time
• Ingredients to Make Chinese Chinese Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs
• Food
• Seasonings
• How to Make Chinese Chinese Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs
• Preparation
• Cooking

How I Feel About This Chinese Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs

I like this soup and my mum did cook it a lot because it's easy and quick with good taste. I like the soup and winter melon more than pork ribs for this dish. When you simmer the pork ribs for 60 mins, the soup itself is full of rib tastes and ribs are tender and melt in the mouth. Winter melon is white when it's raw and transparent when it's cooked.  After absorbing pork rib soup, it is juicy and tasty. 

This is not to say winter melon has benefits in Chinese Medicine. Winter melon has a sweet taste and a slightly cold nature.  It has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting urination and reducing phlegm, generating fluids to quench thirst, and eliminating dampness and relieving summer heat. 

Story Behind the Winter Melon

"Winter melon matures in the summer, and is actually a 'summer melon.' So why is it named with the Chinese character 'winter'? This is because when it ripens, its outer skin is covered with a layer of white frost-like powder, resembling the frost formed in winter. Hence the name 'winter melon.'

Winter melon is a common ingredient on the dining table and also a wonderful medicinal food. Potassium ions are crucial for regulating heart rhythm. Winter melon is a high-potassium, low-sodium food with a rich potassium content, which can promote the excretion of excess sodium from the body, protect the heart and blood vessels, assist in regulating blood pressure, and prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Winter melon itself is very low in calories and rich in dietary fiber, making it a well-known 'slimming melon.' 

• Translated English Name: Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs
• Original Chinese Pronunciation:  Dong Gua Pai Gu Tang 冬瓜排骨汤

Note: You may use the Chinese name to order in China because the translated English name of the dishes might be different in every restaurant. 

• Better to finish in one day. Cooked winter melon soup cannot be stored for long even in refrigerator. 

Prep Time:  10  mins
Cook Time: 60  mins
Total Time:  70 mins

*For this dish, you can leave the kitchen to do whatever you want during the cook time.  

Serving: 2

Food

Pork Spare Ribs —  300g/10.5oz

Winter Melon — 500g/17.6oz

Green Onion — half piece

Scallions — One piece

Ginger — 5 slices

Water — 2000ml 

* Water can be adjusted depending on how much soup you want. 

* Scallions can be replaced by green onions. It's a small version of green onion and is usually only available in China. Very easy to spoil. 

Seasonings

Salt — 1 tablespoon

How to Cook Chinese Winter Melon Soup With Pork Ribs

Preparation

1.  Cut pork spare ribs into 4-5cm length pieces and rinse. That would be the ideal rib size for winter melon soup. 

2.  Wash, peel and cut winter melon to 1cm thick spices. Usually, you would buy a round piece from the market. 

Cooking 

1. Put pork spare ribs and one piece of ginger into a pot and boil. Then rinse and drain the ribs. (This step is called blanching. It is used to remove the ribs' fishy smell, blood, and impurities, making the sweet and sour ribs more delicious. )

2. Add 2L cold water, all ribs, green onion and rest ginger into a stockpot. Turn the heat to high to boil and turn to the minimum. Then simmer for 60 mins. 

3. Add winter melon and salt into the stockpot. Also, boil and simmer for 15 mins. 

4. Add green onion or scallions and it's done.  Now you can enjoy your Chinese winter Melon soup with pork ribs.