Prosperity Soup with Dried Oyster, Black Moss and Soybean

Why people make this soup

Around the Lunar New Year, Hong Kong families love dishes with auspicious names. Dried oyster (hao chi) and black moss (fa cai) together sound like “prosperity and good business,” so almost every household keeps some on hand. Nourilo found some plump, golden dried oysters and good-quality black moss, and simmered them with soybean, conpoy and red dates into a fragrant, richly savoury soup — festive in meaning, and traditionally taken to support the kidney, nourish the spleen and stomach, and benefit the heart and circulation.

Method

1. Soak and rinse the dried oysters. Soak the black moss in clean water 15 minutes, toss with a little oil, then rinse and set aside.
2. Soak the soybeans and conpoy until soft (reserve the soaking water); pit the red dates.
3. Using 1.8 L of water plus the conpoy soaking water, simmer the oysters, soybeans, conpoy, ginger and red dates for 45 minutes.
4. Add the black moss and simmer another 15 minutes. Serve, eating the soup and ingredients together.

Nourilo’s Tips

This is really a “meal-in-a-bowl” soup, full of deep ocean sweetness, and the ingredients themselves are good to eat. Because it is high in iodine, those with an overactive thyroid should not eat much.