Slight Heat Home-Made Soup to Clear Heat, Relieve Summer Heat, Calm the Mind, and Quench Thirst
During the Slight Heat solar term, the weather is hot and muggy, which can lead to poor appetite and loss of appetite. Soup is an excellent way to stimulate the appetite. Today, I'll teach you a few delicious soups to eliminate the "heat toxins" of the Slight Heat term, strengthen the spleen and whet the appetite, and promote fluid production to quench thirst.
Winter Melon and Coix Seed Soup with Duck
Ingredients: 500g winter melon, 30g coix seed (Job's tears), 250g duck, 2 slices of ginger.
Method: Clean and cut the duck into pieces. Blanch the pieces, then rinse with clean water. Place the duck, coix seed, and ginger in a clay pot. Add 5000ml of water. Bring to a boil over high heat for 15 minutes, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 60-90 minutes. Season before serving.
Effects: Clears heat, promotes urination, and relieves summer heat.
Indications: Winter melon is sweet, bland, and slightly cool in nature. It can clear heat and toxins, promote urination to reduce phlegm, relieve restlessness and thirst, and eliminate dampness to relieve summer heat. Coix seed (Job's tears) is sweet, bland, and cool in nature. It strengthens the spleen to drain dampness, clears heat to expel pus, relieves arthralgia, and promotes urination. Duck is neutral and cool in nature with a sweet flavor. It tonifies the middle jiao, benefits yin, and promotes urination. This soup is diuretic, heat-relieving, delicious, simple to make, and suitable for all ages, making it a perfect soup for summer.
Note: Wash the coix seed thoroughly and add it to the pot when the water is cold. This will make the coix seed soft and flavorful. The winter melon must be cooked with its skin on, as the heat-clearing and summer-heat-relieving properties are mainly concentrated in the peel, not the flesh.
Tomato, Potato, and Pork Rib Soup
Ingredients: 150g tomato, 250g potato, 300g pork ribs.
Method: First, clean the pork ribs, blanch them, and rinse with clean water. Place the ribs and cubed potato in a clay pot. Add 5000ml of water. Bring to a boil over high heat for 15 minutes, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for another 20 minutes. Season before serving.
Effects: Strengthens the stomach, aids digestion, promotes fluid production, and quenches thirst.
Indications: Tomato is sweet, sour, cool, and slightly cold in nature. It promotes fluid production to quench thirst, strengthens the stomach to aid digestion, and increases appetite. Potato is sweet and neutral in nature. It tonifies the spleen and qi, relieves pain, and promotes bowel movements. This soup is sweet and sour, nutritious, and suitable for all ages, especially for those with poor appetite during hot weather.
Bitter Melon and Soybean Pork Rib Soup
Ingredients: 300g bitter melon, 100g soybeans, 500g pork ribs.
Method: First, clean the pork ribs, blanch them, and rinse with clean water. Place the ribs, cubed bitter melon, and soaked soybeans in a clay pot. Add 1000ml of water. Bring to a boil over high heat for 15 minutes, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 60 minutes. Season before serving.
Effects: Clears heat and relieves summer heat, relieves restlessness and quenches thirst.
Indications: Bitter melon is bitter and cool in nature, with the effect of clearing heat and toxins. Soybean is sweet and neutral in nature, strengthening the spleen to drain dampness, nourishing blood to tonify deficiency, and detoxifying. This soup is suitable for those with obvious symptoms of summer heat, such as dry mouth, bitter taste, dark urine, and vexation.
Note: Bitter melon is cooling in nature, so people with a weak or cold spleen and stomach should not consume too much of it.
Chieh Gua and Dried Oyster Soup with Pork Shank
Ingredients: 500g chieh gua (Chinese marrow), 50g dried oysters, 400g pork shank.
Method: First, clean the pork shank. Blanch it, then place it with the cubed chieh gua and dried oysters in a clay pot. Add 5000ml of water. Bring to a boil over high heat for 15-20 minutes, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 1-1.5 hours.
Effects: Nourishes yin to clear heat, relieves summer heat, and drains dampness.
Indications: Chieh gua is neutral and sweet in nature. It strengthens the spleen to drain dampness and has effects such as clearing heat and relieving summer heat, promoting urination to reduce edema. Unlike the cool nature of winter melon, chieh gua is considered "neutral" and is an ideal vegetable for hot summers. Dried oyster is salty, astringent, and slightly cool in nature. It nourishes yin, nourishes blood, tonifies the five organs, invigorates blood, and nourishes the muscles. This soup nourishes yin to clear heat, relieves summer heat, and drains dampness, and is suitable for all ages.
Codonopsis Ginseng and Lean Pork Soup
Ingredients: 15g codonopsis root, 150g lean pork.
Method: First, place the washed codonopsis root in a pot. Add 500ml of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the lean pork and continue to simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes before serving.
Effects: Tonifies qi and promotes fluid production.
Indications: Codonopsis root is sweet, slightly bitter, and warm in nature. It tonifies the spleen and lungs, and replenishes qi to promote fluid production. This soup replenishes qi, nourishes yin, and promotes fluid production. It is suitable for men, women, and all ages, especially for those who are deficient and cannot tonification.
Braised Papaya in Rock Sugar
Ingredients: One small papaya or half a large one.
Method: Peel, core, and cut the papaya into pieces. Place in a double boiler, add an appropriate amount of rock sugar, and steam for 1 hour.
Effects: This product has the effects of moistening the lungs, stopping cough, and quenching thirst.
Indications: Papaya is neutral, slightly cool, and sweet in nature. It relieves summer heat and quenches thirst, and moistens the lungs to stop cough. Rock sugar is sweet and neutral in nature, with effects of moistening the lungs, stopping cough, clearing phlegm, and reducing internal heat. This soup is suitable for all ages, especially for those who smoke and drink excessively, stay up late, or have a persistent cough.
Steamed Sweet Potato in Brown Sugar Water
Ingredients: 250g sweet potato, 50g brown sugar.
Method: Cut the sweet potato into small pieces. Boil with water for 20 minutes. Add brown sugar, let it cool, then eat the sweet potato and drink the sugar water.
Effects: Strengthens the spleen and stomach, harmonizes blood, and promotes bowel movements.
Indications: Sweet potato is neutral and sweet in nature. It strengthens the spleen and stomach, tonifies deficiency, replenishes qi, and moistens the intestines to promote bowel movements. Brown sugar is warm, sweet, and enters the spleen meridian. It replenishes qi and blood, and strengthens the spleen to warm the stomach. This sweet water strengthens the spleen and stomach, moistens the intestines to promote bowel movements, and is suitable for consumption during hot summer weather with poor appetite.