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Hungry Mom Kitchen Makes Asian Apple Soup

The sweet scent of apples fills the kitchen. The house. Streams out the door.

But it’s not coming from apple pie or apple crisp or even apple sauce.

It’s Asian apple soup. And it’s perfect for a winter day. apple soup

My friend Jenny made the soup for me the last time I visited her in Arkansas. She started it in a soup pot and then transferred everything to a thermal cooker, an economical way to cook food for hours without heat.

Before bed, Jenny tucked the thermal cooker in a bottom kitchen cabinet. In the morning, we ate the soup for breakfast.

You don’t need a thermal cooker to make this yummy dish. Only a stock pot or large sauce pan. I use a crock pot.

And you can serve it anytime.

The surprising ingredient in Asian Apple Soup is pork ribs. If you don’t eat pork, you can still make it, but it will be more like applesauce!

This recipe will yield a good amount of soup, at least four generous servings.

Ingredients:

6 cups water (I start with enough to cover the apples and add more as needed.)

7 apples of different varieties Cored, peeled and sliced. (Mix tart with sweeter varieties.)

1 or 2 Asian pears, cored, peeled and sliced. (These are supposed to be crunchy. No need to wait until they soften.)

A couple of nice country-style pork ribs, bone in. The bone is important. (As an alternative, use several pork spare ribs.)

¾ cup raw almonds, blanched (Just pour boiling water over the almonds and let sit 15 minutes. Peel off skins.) You can also sliver these, which I like to do.

4 or 5 dried figs (Jenny says this soup requires golden dates, which are Chinese. But minus these, she says figs are the closest in taste.  I have even used Deglet Noor dates with success – but then, I’m not Chinese.)

Fresh ginger root (Use about a two inch piece, peeled and sliced.)

1 cinnamon stick (Optional. I use 1 long stick, broken in half.)

Directions:

Put the peeled, sliced apples and Asian pears into a pot with water. Add the pork ribs, blanched (slivered) almonds, figs, sliced ginger and optional cinnamon stick.

Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer on low heat for at least 2 hours. I transfer my soup to a crock pot after it boils, and just let it cook on high for a while, and then lower the heat for about four hours. The broth will reduce, so you may want to add more water accordingly. Be sparing. You don’t want watery soup!

When it’s done, the almonds will be softened (though not what I’d call tender), and the meat should fall off the bones. Discard bones and serve.

It’s easy, and it’s wonderful!  FFG

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