Chinese Pumpkin Soup recipe

This easy-to-make soup recipe is both remarkably delightful to the palette and nutritiously beneficial for our health. My mother made this Chinese Yam and Goji Pumpkin Pork Soup for the family one evening and it quickly became the highlight of that dinner. We love this soup from Mom, and I hope you will enjoy her recipe as well.

This soup offers a clean savory sweet taste, and an appealing ensemble of colors to greet the eyes. Biting into the Kabocha pumpkin cooked in my mother’s recipe (as my dad accurately described) is like biting into the nice soft yolk of a salted egg you would find in a Chinese mooncake.

With key ingredients like the chinese yam, kabocha pumpkin, and goji (wolfberry), this soup is a delicious way to take in natural beta carotene, vitamin C, and minerals like iron and potassium. The soup also gently tonifies the Qi without causing heat or injuring the Yin. Enjoy!

Author: Sharon Lee

Recipe type: Soup

Prep time:

Cook time:

Total time:

Serves: 8

• 1.5 lb of fresh Chinese Yam
• 1 lb of kabocha pumpkin
• 1 tbsp goji berries (also called wolfberries)
• 3 honey dates
• 1.5 lbs of lean pork
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 2 slices of ginger
• 12 cups of water

1. Cut the lean pork to 2" chunks, and mix in the tsp of salt. Let sit for 15 mins.
2. Bring 12 cups of water to boil in a big soup pot. In the meanwhile, rinse and soak the honey dates and wolfberries. Peel and cut the Chinese Yam to ½" slices.
3. In a separate smaller pot, boil a small amount of water to blanch the pork.
4. When the big pot of water boils, add in the ginger slices, blanched pork, and honey dates. Bring the water to a boil again on high heat, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Set the timer for 2 hours of cooking over low heat.
5. In the meanwhile, wash and cut the kabocha pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon, and cut to 2" chunks with the skin on. Set aside.
6. When the timer signals, add all remaining ingredients to the boiling pot and cook on low heat for another 20 minutes once the liquid boils again. Serve.

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