Soybean Sprout, Snow Fungus and Tofu Soup

Why people make this soup

Burning the midnight oil is almost a badge of honour in modern city life — but Nourilo has seen the consequences up close, in the patients and readers who reach out after weeks of late nights. The pattern is predictable: dry mouth, scratchy throat, mouth ulcers appearing one after another, a low-grade irritability, maybe some acne. In Chinese food medicine, this cluster of symptoms is associated with what practitioners call “yin deficiency with rising fire” — the body’s cooling, nourishing reserves depleted, leaving internal heat to flare upward.

This soup works gently to rehydrate and nourish from within. Soybean sprouts clear stomach heat; snow fungus is one of the most prized yin-nourishing foods in the Chinese kitchen; firm tofu cools and soothes; dried figs moisten and lubricate. The whole family can eat this — it is light, naturally sweet and completely unpretentious.

Method

1. Soak the snow fungus in cold water until fully expanded and soft (at least 30 minutes). Trim and discard the firm yellowish stem.
2. Blanch the lean pork briefly in boiling water to remove impurities, then rinse.
3. Place the pork, snow fungus and dried figs in a pot with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer.
4. After 30 minutes, add the tofu and soybean sprouts (add these later, as the sprouts will turn mushy if overcooked — adding them to boiling liquid briefly seals their flavour).
5. Continue simmering for a total of approximately 1.5 hours.
6. Season lightly if desired, and serve with the soup ingredients. Eat the tofu, sprouts, snow fungus and figs along with the broth.

Nourilo’s Tips

If mouth ulcers appear after nights of insufficient sleep, adding a few more dried figs to the pot will increase the moistening, yin-nourishing effect. For a vegetarian version, omit the pork and add a small piece of dried seaweed (hai zao) — it adds umami depth and is itself cooling in nature. If mouth ulcers keep recurring despite food adjustments, try taking one vitamin B complex tablet daily — in Nourilo’s experience, this frequently resolves recurrent ulcers that have a nutritional (rather than heat-fire) origin.