Imitation Shark Fins Soup (with SharkFin Melon)

by

I happened to see Shark Fins Melon in the supermarket the other day, I remembered my Mum telling me that SharkFin Melon can be used to cook imitation Shark Fins Soup.  I am curious about this vegetable, so I decided to buy one quarter piece of the Whole Melon home for experiment.

Chicken soup (chicken broth) has traditionally been a good tonic and nutritious supplement to our health.  Personally I prepare to boil Chicken Soup and drink fresh rather than to buy processed Chicken essence or such (unless I do not have a choice).  Using Chicken Soup as a base to experiment other soups is fun and still retains the nutritional values for our health.  There are other Chinese herbs that you can add in as well to Chicken Soup for other medicinal usage.  There is no end to variations that you can do with just a Chicken Soup base.  For this Soup, you can add in various vegetables as you desired as well.

To prepare the chicken soup, you can easy buy one packet of chicken bones from NTUC Fairprice, it is about half of a small chicken.  I bought a quarter of the whole SharkFin Melon (one Melon is way too much anyway), they are not always available.  And the interesting thing is, after you boiled the Melon, it will start shedding its flesh like Shark Fins, thread by thread.  The Melon will also give out water as you boil it.

On the end result, we seasoned the soup with just salt and pepper.  It tastes like imitation shark fins soup…. My mum loved the soup.  I have no doubt that this soup will nourish the health of my family members.  It was completely slurped away at the end of dinner …

 When first boiling the chicken soup.

 When the chicken soup is almost ready for serving.  From the pic, much of the Melon meat has be shredded out, left the base of the Melon meat.

Imitation Shark Fins Soup Recipe (Using SharkFin Melon)

Preparation Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

7 cups of water (approx)

A packet of chicken’s bones

A few slices of ginger

A few cloves of garlics

Half portion of 1/4 of Shark Fins Melon (peeled, cut into half)

Crab Meat

1/2 cup Fresh Corn

A few Black fungus (木耳) (optional)

Some red wolfberries (optional)

1 bundle of Vermicelli (soaked in water to soften it)

2 tsp Salt (approx)

Dash of Pepper

1 egg

Corn flour + water

Method

  1. Take one bundle of Vermicelli and soaked in water until it soften.  Cut the long noodle into half length.  Remove the water and set aside.
  2. Scrub out some fresh corn (from the sweet corn vegetable) for use.
  3. As I bought 1/4 of the whole Shark Fins Melon, I took half of this Melon for use in this soup.  After peeling the skin of the Melon, I chop the Melon into 2 big piece (see pic above).  No need to take out the Melon seeds (it is edible as well).

Preparing the Soup (Chicken broth):

  1. Boil some water (about 2 cups of water).  Once the water boils, put in the chicken bones to simmer for about 5 mins.  This will force out the dirt, blood and oil from the bones.  Off the fire, take out the chicken bones, pour away the dirty water.
  2. Pour in 7 cups of water into the saucepan over medium heat.  Put back the chicken bones, put in a few cloves of smashed garlic (not chopped), a few slice of ginger, bring to a boil.  (The ginger and garlic is to remove any smell from the bones).  Add in the big pieces of SharkFin melon, corn and wolfberries to the soup.
  3. Let the soup comes to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for another 1 – 2 hours.
  4. Add in salt to the soup for taste (you can gradually add in the salt and taste, until you reach your preferred saltiness).  Add in dash of pepper for taste.
  5. When you are preparing to serve the soup, do these last steps:
  6. Put in the crab meat and vermicelli.
  7. When the soup is boiling, lightly beat an egg.  Using a chopstick to keep stirring the soup in a circular motion, and pour the egg in slowly from a high position, in a long, thin stream.  This will create nice, beautiful small shreds of white clouds of egg on top of the soup.
  8. Take out some corn flour, add a little bit of water to mix into a thick liquid, slowly pour into the soup as you stir the soup.  Use the spoon to check the thickness of the soup to your preference.  If the soup is not thick enough, add more corn flour water to the soup.  (The corn flour-water mixture is to thicken the soup).
  9. Serve when hot.  Enjoy!