HAINANESE MUTTON SOUP

This recipe takes a bit of time to prepare but the end result is worthwhile the hard work. The soup is nuritious, healthy, invigorating  and wholesome.

Ingredients:

1 kg mutton leg, cubed
500 gm mutton bones
4 tablespoon oil
11 cm ginger, sliced thinly
3 cubes fermented beancurd
2 tablespoon mashed bean paste
2 litres of water
10 pieces liquorice root (gan cau)
5 pieces codonopsis (dang shen)
7 pieces astragalus root (bei qi)
10 gm Solomon's seal (yu zhu)
2 sticks cinnamon
3 pieces angelica root (dang gui)
5 gm Sichuan lovage root (chuan xiong)
4 star anise
10 Cloves
½ tsp Sichuan pepper seed
2 whole cloves garlic
20 cm sugar cane, the thin and hard type for boiling soups, bruised
6 sticks dried beancurd sheet, soaked till soft then drained
30 fried beancurd puffs
10 gm dried wood ear fungus, soaked till soft then drained and sliced
5 gm wolfberries (gou qi zi)
15 dried red dates
1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

1. Fill a pot two-thirds full with water and five slices of ginger. Bring to boil.
2. Add the mutton leg and bones and boil for another 10 minutes. Drain and set aside when done.
3. In a heated wok, add oil and five slices of ginger. Fry for a minute until fragrant before adding fermented beancurd and mashed bean paste. Fry for another two minutes.
4. Lower the heat to a small flame and add the boiled mutton leg and bones. Fry for 20 minutes, stirring continuously to prevent the meat from burning, until all the moisture has evaporated from the wok. Set aside when done.
5. In a pot, add 2 litres of water and bring to a boil.
6. Place the herbs-- liquorice root, codonopsis root, astragalus root, Solomon's seal, cinnamon, angelica root, Sichuan lovage root, star anise, cloves and Sichuan pepper seed-- into a cloth bag, tie it up and place in the pot of boiling water.
7. Add garlic, remaining slices of ginger, sugar cane and stir-fried mutton leg and bones to the pot.
8. Bring the pot of water to a boil before lowering the heat and allowing the soup to simmer for two hours. Scoop out the surface layer of oil from the soup every 15 minutes and discard.
9. Add beancurd sheets, fried beancurd puff, wood ear fungus, wolfberries and red dates to the soup and bring to a boil.
10. Add salt to taste

This can be eaten on it's on as soup or with hot steamed rice.