Seafood & Winter Melon Soup

Asians in general love winter melon. It is actually a squash because it looks like a squash, not a melon. This is a summer season for this squash. In many places, winter melon can grow up to 20 lbs., and the green skin cover appears to be powdered with snow. I did not see this big melon sold in American supermarkets. In Korean stores, it is sold in 1 to 2 lbs packages. This recipe is for a kind of classic summer soup in Asia that will keep your body cool. In the Asian world, food enters the body before the medicine. We try to consume healthy food and even when we are sick, we eat some kinds of food to get rid of the illness before seeing the doctors. With this healthy, easy recipe, one can substitute seafood for any kind of meat, such as chicken or pork or go with the vegetarian version using a vegetarian broth and tofu. It is a hot soup for summer, but for Asians, it is a balanced recipe to be healthy.

Ingredients:
1 to 2 lbs. winter melon

2 pieces of dry fungus, soaked and diced
1 oz. fresh oyster mushrooms, sliced
5 cups chicken broth
2 cups seafood combo mix
Seasonings:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tsp mushroom seasoning
 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
Garnish with chopped green onions, cilantro

Directions:
Remove the skin and seeds from the winter melon. The skin can be used to flavor the broth. Cut melon into 1/2 inch cubes.

 

With this amount of melon skin, add 1 cup of chopped white onion and daikon. Put them in a pot with 3 cups of water. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and discard the solids. Use this vegetables broth to add with the chicken broth.

In a pot with broth, add both mushrooms, ginger and winter melon to the broth.

Bring to boil for 3 minutes and simmer for 5 minutes or until melons are tender and crisp. Season the soup with salt, fish sauce, and mushroom seasoning.

 Add seafood mix and let seafood mix cook through for 2 minutes. Garnish with green onions and cilantro. Serve.