Squab is one of my favourite nourishing ingredients during the autumn and winter months. It not only rich in nutrition but also helps to improve your overall health. A bowl of rich suckling pigeon tastes sweet and has the effects of nourishing liver, kidney, blood and balances your Qi, and quenches thirst.

There’s a folk saying, “one pigeon is better than nine chickens” 一鴿勝九雞 because pigeon meat has a high-protein content of over 24%, is low in fat, abundant in amino acids.

When paired with Logan, it helps replenishes the heart, spleen, Qi and blood. It is calming and improves sleep. Therefore, if you suffer from sleeplessness, this soup is for you!

I love making Chinese soup. I try to make Chinese soup at least one a week. A delicious bowl of soup is uplifts moods and simply warms and melts the day away. It is deliciously fragrant and sweet and little salt is needed.

Health Benefits of Chinese Herbs

乳鸽 Squab – Contains high nutritional value, low-fat and many essential amino acids. Easy digestion and absorption rate are as high as 95%. It contains choline to prevent atherosclerosis. Squab is good for the liver and kidney, the vitality of skin cells, improve memory, reduce blood pressure, improve skin elasticity and longevity. It is also rich in pantothenic acid to reduce hair loss. Its amino acids and arginine can promote protein synthesis, accelerate wound healing. It is recommended especially for women, post menstrual cycle, post-partum and after a miscarriage.

淮山 / 山藥 Dioscorea polystachya – Commonly referred to as Chinese yam, Huai Shan has a sweet neutral characteristic. Individuals with spleen deficient 脾虚 will find improvements in their digestive system. It promotes urination and inhibit gastric cleansing properties. Huai Shan targets kidney, lung, and spleen channels 腎﹐肺﹐脾. It can also help to reduce blood sugar and blood pressure, improves antibodies, is anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and improves vitality.

蓮子 Lotus Seed / Semen Nelumbinis Nuciferae – Lotus seeds are sweet and promote spleen, kidney and heart. Those suffering from insomnia will find comfort in its ‘de-heating’ properties 蓮子去熱：蓮子心性寒. Lotus seeds also reduce hemorrhaging.

How to Make Stewed Squab Soup

You can purchase whole squab at your local Asian supermarket. Remember to wash and remove inner and the head. If there are any left over feathers, pluck those too!

Wash and rinse the Chinese herbs. I also recommend soaking the herbs in water for at least 20 mins to remove any sulfur used during the sulfur fumigation process (replacing traditional sun-drying for its pesticidal and anti-bacterial properties.) Just in case.

In a pot of boiling water, blanch the squab and pork tenderloin to remove impurities for about 5 minutes. Then rinse under cold water.

Place all your ingredients in a 1 L stewing pot. I like to use an electric stewing pot for keeping nutrition and original taste of food without having to check the stove. I can even go take a nap!

Add approximately 750 ml of water (or appropriate amount so it does not over flow).

In medium heat, stew for 1.5 hours. Longer if you want a more intense flavour.

Add a dash of salt approximately 10 minutes before consuming.

Serve and enjoy!

Nourishing Squab Soup 桂圆枸杞蓮子淮山炖乳鸽汤

• Author: Nancy
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1.5 hours
• Total Time: 31 minute
• Yield: 1 bowl 1x
• Category: Soup
• Method: Stew
• Cuisine: Chinese

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Description

Squab is one of my favourite nourishing ingredients during the autumn and winter months. It not only rich in nutrition but also helps to improve your overall health. A bowl of rich suckling pigeon tastes sweet and has the effects of nourishing liver, kidney, blood and balances your Qi, hydrates and quenches thirst.

 

廣東老火靚燙, 一盅好湯，桂圆枸杞蓮子淮山炖乳鸽汤.

俗語有云”一鸽胜九鸡”的说法。秋冬季，来一碗鲜香浓郁的乳鸽汤，再低落的情绪也能被暖暖融化。它不但营养丰富，还有这道汤品口感清甜，具有补肝壮肾，益气补血，生津止渴的功效。

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 whole Squab 乳鴿
• 1 lb Pork Tenderloin 瘦肉
• 50g dried Goji berries 枸杞
• 100g Chinese Yam 淮山 / 山藥 
• 8 pieces Logan 桂圓
• 1 Slice Ginger 姜
• dash of Salt 鹽
• 750ml water 水

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Instructions

1. Wash and rinse the ingredients. Clean the squab and remove inners and head.
2. In a pot of boiling water, blanch the squab and pork tenderloin to remove impurities for about 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water.
3. Place all your ingredients in a 1 L stewing pot.
4. Add approximately 750 ml of water (or appropriate amount so it does not over flow).
5. In medium heat, stew for 1.5 hours. Longer if you want a more intense flavour. 
6. Add a dash of salt approximately 10 minutes before consuming.
7. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

中文版

1. 準備材料，乳鴿洗凈。
2. 鴿肉和瘦肉(或豬骨)飛水。腥味血水，大概煮个5分钟左右捞出，用冷水洗干净待用
3. 所有材料放入砂煲，大火燒開，小火煲一個半小時左右。
4. 提前十分鐘調入鹽，就可以食用了。

 

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Notes

• You can use either Pork Tenderloin or Pork Bones. I prefer tenderloin because it is less fatty.
• Enjoy the soup ingredients with a side of soy sauce. The squab meat is tender and succulent! 
• I like to use an electric stewing pot for keeping nutrition and original taste of food without having to check the stove. 

Keywords: 廣東老火靚燙, 一盅好湯，桂圆枸杞蓮子淮山炖乳鸽汤, 乳鸽汤, squab soup, pigeon, squab nutritional benefit, chinese medicinal food therapy, stew, double steamed, chinese cuisine, canton cuisine, chinese cooking, liver and kidney, the vitality of skin cells, improve memory, reduce blood pressure, improve skin elasticity and longevity, amino acids, promote spleen, kidney and heart, TCM, traditional chinese medicine

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Torafuku in Vancouver’s Chinatown is now open for lunch service and I’m very excited. I’ve been a fan of this “Lucky Tiger” since it started as an Asian Fusion food truck “Le Tigre”. I’ve been here for events and during Dine Out Vancouver – not once had I’ve been disappointed. If you’ve been following @instanomss on Instagram, then you would have already seen the IG stories and how delicious the food is. 

Lunch Service is available Tuesday to Sunday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. The lunch menu offers a great selection of entrees and side dishes ensuring you get a little of everything. You can make any entree into a combo with your chose of sides and a drink for $4.50 more. If you are greedy like me and want it all – it is $16 or $10 for 3 sides.

Torafuku Beef Noodle Soup 15: Limited quantities daily – This Taiwanese beef noodle consists of sake braised beef shanks, 72 hours broth, hand-pulled noodles, bok choy, soft poached marinated egg and pickled mustard. This classic sells out every day so be sure to call ahead to save yourself a bowl! This is one of my favourite and the best beef noodle soup in Vancouver!

Pro Tip: to add an extra level of depth and flavour complexity to your beef noodle soup, be sure to ask the chef for the jar of beef fat and extra pickled mustard. SO GOOD! WORTH THE CALORIES!

There are 6 different rice options to chose from between $12 and $13. Their rice bowls are described as “Awesomeness in a Bowl” and each bowl features their signature “Kickass Rice” – cooked in sake, butter and dashi and served with pickled cabbed, mixed herbs and topped with a perfectly poached egg.

• Pork Belly Rice – Kickass Rice with Kakuni Pork Belly
• Fried Chicken Rice – Kickass Rice with Fried Crispy Chicken
• Crack Salad Rice – Kickass Rice with Crack Salad
• Rice 1/2 – Kickass Rice with Fried Crispy Chicken and Kakuni Pork Belly
• Chicken + Crack Rice – Kickass Rice with Fried Crispy Chicken and Crack Salad
• Pork + Crack Rice – Kickass Rice with Pork Belly and Crack Salad

All are good options. The Fried Crispy Chicken is lightly coated with a crispy crunchy outside and a tender juicy inside. The Kakuni Pork Belly is tender, rich and moist – perfect when you are looking for something a little more filling for lunch.

Crack Salad 11: Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, parmesan and lemon. This salad is so good you simply can not have one bite. I love the crispy leaves, cheesy parmesan brightened with a punch of lemon juice. I would eat this on its own. I would eat this with rice.

Side Dishes Menu 3.75 each

Tomato: yuzu plum powder marinaded tomato, shiso, red onion

Cucumber: cucumber agar agar, radish, Kuan Mama’s vinaigrette

Lotus Root: Soy braised lotus root, miso ricotta cheese, green onion

Eggplant: Szechuan marinaded eggplants, crispy rice

Mushrooms: King oyster mushroom tempura, kimchi

If I had to pick just one, I would highly recommend the lotus roots with their miso tofu ricotta cheese. Although you may think the flavour combination is strange, trust me, it works! And it is absolutely delicious!

Working out of the back kitchen of Torafuku is Buttermere Patisserie. We were treated to freshly baked Taiwanese Pineapple Cake. I liked the small teaser size where I can fool myself that I can eat just one. The pineapple cake is made with both pineapple and winter melon for a less sweet and delicate flavour profile. The crust is light without the heavy butter-ness commonly found in #鳳梨酥 !!

I was invited by Torafuku for a menu tasting. All opinions are my own.FOLLOW:

Torafuku Vancouver 寅福
URL: http://torafuku.ca
Cuisine: Asian, Fusion, Izakaya

Hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Sunday: 5:30 p.m – 11:00 p.m

958 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 2W1
(778) 903-2006

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If you are looking for different ways to celebrate and ring in Lunar New Years, I am excited to share with you the Year of the Pig themed afternoon tea at H Tasting Lounge at The Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, Coal Harbour neighbourhood. The stylish lounge is offering a Chinese New Year inspired high tea with traditional Chinese dim sum cuisine such as BBQ Pork Puff, Braised Pork Belly Bao, Shrimp Dumpling, Seared Nian Gao, etc. delivered to you on a playful carousel display makes for a photo-worthy table situation.

The Year of the Pig Chinese New Year afternoon tea is available between February 2 to 24th at $55 per person.

H Tasting Lounge features a great tea selection from TEALEAVES. For this particular Lunar New Year, it features two green tea blends from their Fortune Collection: Floral Jasmine Green (fresh mellow overtones with a slightly astringent finish) and the Dragonwell Organic Green (3rd grade Dragonwell with mature tea leaves picked during later spring that is mild tasting with a beautiful pale celadon liquor).

Or option to add Year of the Pig Cocktail. The Year of the Pig cocktail ($16) will be available throughout the remainder of February. The aromatic blend includes Johnnie Walker Black Scotch whisky, golden apple and ginger-infused vodka, Buddha’s hand citron jelly, yellow chrysanthemum tea, and lemon juice.

If you prefer to share your mocktail drinks with your toddler like we did, I highly recommend their Free Spirited Beverages:

Tea & Tonic (red): Tealeaves Mountain Berry Tea, freshly squeeze lemon juice, raspberry syrup, Ms. Betters Bitters green strawberry bitters

Yuzu Spiritz (green): Yuzu syrup, freshly squeezed lemon juice, Ms. Betters Bitters cucumber.

Every afternoon tea set includes cotton candy and scones. It’s hard keeping your hands off it!

SAVOUR

• BBQ Pork Puff
• Braised Pork Belly Bao
• Shrimp Dumpling
• Pork Soup Dumpling
• Fried Pork Dumpling
• Ginger Chicken Bao
• Iron Guanyin Shortbread
• Charcoal Lava Bao
• Seared Nian Gao
• Water Chestnut Jelly

We recommend taking photos quickly otherwise dishes will get cold quickly (without a steam basket).

Here’s wishing everyone a great prosperous year of the Pig!!! #豬年好運，恭喜發財，身體健康！

I was invited by H Tasting Lounge for a menu tasting.

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More: TEALEAVES | TWG Tea Canada | Neverland Tea Salon | Notch 8 at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

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Mott 32 卅二公館 in Vancouver recently just launched their summer menu and we were so excited to taste test it before it was open to the public. This high end fine dining Chinese restaurant is located at Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver at 1161 W Georgia Street.

They have a lovely patio, just perfect for a glass of rose just to get your appetite going!

We brought little Emily with us and she absolutely love their super cute table settings for kids!

Egg White Dumplings: This deliciously light and delicate dumpling is made with South Australian scallop, garoupa, caviar egg and gold leaf!

King Prawn Garlic Spring Roll: Super fresh and bouncy prawns.

Blue Swimmer Crab Meat Soup with Conpoy dried scallops and winter melon. This soup is absolutely perfect for summer! Winter melon helps improves digestion with its cool down effects for the summer heat. It is light and sweet with a hint of freshness distinctive to shell fish.

Cold Free Range Chicken: An absolute favourite of mine! The coriander and black truffle pairing is so lovely without being overwhelming. I could eat the whole dish myself!

White Asparagus and Crab Meat: Tender baby asparagus itself is mild tasting and goes nicely with honey peas and egg whites sauce. All you need is a bowl of rice.

Crispy Cod Fish: This deep fried spicy cod is light and not one bit greasy. The crispy garlic and chilies were so fragrant. Although a little spicy, I couldn’t stop eating it!

Alaskan Crab Meat Lotus Fried Leaf Rice: This fragrant fried rice is topped with a creamy crab meat white sauce. It goes extremely well with a heaping spoonful of their house made XO sauce!

Guava Pomelo Dessert: This twist on the traditional mango pomelo sago sweet soup is equally as tasty with a hint of tarty sweetness from Guava. What a nice refreshing dessert for summer!

Most of the items on the new summer menu at Mott 32 is available during both lunch and dinner services. Let me know what your favourite dish is in the comments below!

more: FORTUNE TERRACE CHINESE CUISINE RICHMOND 福滿樓海鮮酒家 | MOTT 32 卅二公館 | Deluxe Chinese Restaurant 凯悦酒家 | Dazzling Cafe

I was invited by Mott 32 卅二公館 and Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver for a menu tasting.

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