Green Olive Radish Water Chestnut Fig Soup (Qing Lan Qing Luo Bo Ma Ti Wu Hua Guo Tang)

Why people make this soup

Green Chinese olives (qing lan) are a seasonal treat — they start out a little sour and astringent, but chew them and the taste turns sweet — and they are traditionally valued for a sore, swollen throat and feverish thirst. Pairing them with green radish makes the old “Green Dragon White Tiger” soup that people once relied on to soothe the throat in flu season. Add water chestnut, traditionally good for clearing children’s “heatiness,” and figs, said to help a sore throat and hoarse voice, and you have a refreshing, heat-clearing soup the whole family can enjoy.

Method

1. Rinse the olives and lightly crush them with the back of a knife.
2. Peel and chunk the green radish; peel and rinse the water chestnuts; rinse the figs and halve them.
3. Simmer all ingredients in about 7 cups of water for 1 hour, until reduced to 1.2 L.

Nourilo’s Tips

This soup is fragrant with a faint tang. Adding some meat — lean pork or partridge — makes it tastier still, and it is then also good for people with bronchitis.