White Radish (Daikon) Soup 白蘿蔔湯

The soup season has began! It's almost the end of fall and there's no better way to warm yourself up with a steaming bowl of soup. This is an easy recipe with four basic ingredients - white radish (also known as daikon), carrot, pork ribs and water. I would love to add some dried cuttlefish and dried oysters if I have some in the pantry but since I don't, I just have to make do with what I have.

Daikon is very low in calories and rich in enzymes to help in digesting fatty oils and starchy foods. It has anti-inflammatory and sedative properties, an excellent source of vitamin C, phosphorus and potassium. The health benefit of daikon is endless but you may want to add some dried red dates, geiji (wolfberries) or ginger into the soup to balance the "cooling" nature of daikon.

Ingredients
600g pork ribs
1 large sized white radish, cut into pieces
2 medium sized carrots, cut into pieces
1.2l water

Method
Blanch pork ribs in a pot of boiling water, about 5 minutes, to remove excess fats and scums. (Blanching the pork ribs/chicken gives you a clear soup).

Put all ingredients in a clean pot and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 2 hours. Add salt to taste (I did not put any salt and seasoning as I like my soup to retain its original flavour).