I remembered having snow fungus soup at Grandma’s house just a few weeks before she passed away in February. My husband had tried it for the first time and I was surprised he actually had several helpings as he didn’t seem interested in Chinese dessert soups previously.
I said I would make the same dessert soup at home and Grandma recommended me to use honey rock sugar instead of the regular white one. Grandma’s version of snow fungus soup was the usual concoction of snow fungus, red dates, dried longans and gingko nuts. For mine, I added sweet apricot kernels (南杏) and goji berries to give another level of sweetness to the soup so there wasn’t a need to add too much sugar.
This is a dessert soup that’s also nutritious from the TCM point of view ‘cos every element has its own benefits.
It’s a little similar to our local dessert Cheng Tng (清汤). I just love the generous amount of ingredients in each bowl. It can be served either hot or cold. Enjoy!
Snow Fungus Soup Recipe
Ingredients (serves 6)
25g dried snow fungus, soaked in warm water till fully constituted & cut into small pieces
20g sweet apricot kernels, rinsed
30g dried red dates, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes & rinsed
80g dried longans, rinsed
10g goji berries, rinsed
1.5 litres water + extra for topping up while simmering
397g can of boiled gingko nuts, drained
40g honey rock sugar
Instructions
1. Add all ingredients (except gingko nuts and rock sugar) in a soup pot and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally to ensure nothing gets stuck to the bottom. Top up with extra water as necessary if liquid reduces too much during the simmering.
3. Add gingko nuts and rock sugar and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.