Radish Seed, Fritillaria and Partridge Soup

Why people make this soup

For phlegmy children, Nourilo often points parents to perilla seed and radish seed cooked into congee. Radish seed is simply the seed of the white radish, traditionally associated with easing food stagnation and settling phlegm and wheeze. Here he pairs it with fritillaria for hot, dry, phlegmy coughs, and adds partridge — a mild bird traditionally thought to support the organs without being heating — because children who cough easily are often a little weak in the lungs.

Method

1. Soak and rinse the radish seed and fritillaria separately.
2. Pit the red dates.
3. Clean the partridge and blanch it in boiling water.
4. Bring everything to a boil in 2.4 L of water and simmer about 90 minutes, down to 1.2 L.

Nourilo’s Tips

This fragrant soup suits young and old, but it is best for those coughing up thick yellow phlegm — a hot-phlegm cough. Those with thin white phlegm, low energy or loose stools should not drink it, and radish seed should not be used together with qi-tonifying herbs like ginseng.