Old Cucumber, Red Bean, Hyacinth Bean and Job's Tears Soup

Why people make this soup

After a cold, the digestion often hasn’t bounced back — you feel tired and off your food. Nourilo’s advice is not to rush into rich tonics, which only burden a recovering spleen and stomach while leftover heat lingers. Instead, reach for something that settles the stomach and clears heat and damp. Old cucumber is traditionally used to clear heat and drain water; combined with red beans, hyacinth beans and Job’s tears, this soup is associated with easing the dry throat, restlessness and poor sleep that can trail a cold.

Method

1. Seed the old cucumber and cut into chunks; blanch the pork shin; soak and rinse the remaining ingredients.
2. Put everything in a pot with 2.4 L of water.
3. Simmer for 2 hours, then serve.

Nourilo’s Tips

The whole family can drink this; it is associated with preventing internal dryness and easing itchy, sensitive skin. Tip on the cucumber: a bitter batch usually means a damaged or insect-stung fruit, or a bitter head — choose a straight, heavy, unblemished old cucumber with fresh yellow-brown skin.