My family love to drink soups, especially soups that have been simmering for hours on the stove.

One of our favourite soups is the old cucumber soup (lao huang gua tang). Old cucumber is actually matured cucumber with a brownish hard skin on the outside.

I love to serve this soup since it is supposed to be cooling, especially if we have been having too many serving of fried stuff.

The ingredients that I use for a family of four calls for:

300 g of pork ribs (chopped into pieces)

1 medium size old cucumber (lao huang gua)

1 small rice bowlful of cashew nuts

• Rinse and drain the pork ribs. Add 2 heaped teaspoons of salt to marinate them. I liken this step to massaging the meat :)
• Fill a pot with 2.5 litres of water.
• Boil some water in another smaller pot or saucepan (enough water to cover the pork ribs).
• Parboil the pork ribs in the boiling water. This has the effect of cleaning the prok ribs and getting rid of any smell. Once the pork ribs are partially cooked, transfer the ribs to the larger pot.
• While the pork ribs are being cooked in the pot, scrub the skin of the old cucumber and cut into chunks. De-seed the cucumber.

• Rinse the cashew nuts and soak them for about 10 minutes. Put the cleaned cucumber pieces and the cashew nuts into the pot with the meat. Bring the water to boil before lowering the fire. Let the soup simmer for 2 to 3 hours before serving.

Usually, the soup would be quite sweet after 2 to 3 hours of simmering. However, add a little salt before serving if you like it more salty.

If you, like me, are a working parent, you may want to prepare the soup in the morning before leaving for work. I would let the soup simmers on the stove while I prepare for work, turning off the fire just before I leave the house.

I heat up the soup when I return from work and bring it to boil before lowering the fire and let it simmers while I prepare dinner. The soup would be just right when dinner is ready.