Fresh Dendrobium, Sha Shen, Mai Dong and Sea Whelk Soup

Why people make this soup

After a stretch of fried, spicy or heavily spiced food — or too many late nights — many people develop what food therapy calls stomach heat: thirst, bad breath, swollen sore gums and constipation. Plain cooling soups don’t always do the trick. Nourilo prefers ingredients that nourish stomach yin while gently cooling the heat, like fresh dendrobium, sha shen and mai dong, rounded out with sea whelk.

Method

1. Wash the fresh dendrobium and cut into segments; soak and rinse the sha shen and mai dong; pit the red dates.
2. Wash the sea whelk and blanch.
3. Add everything to a pot with 2.4–2.7 L of water and simmer for 2 hours until reduced to 1.2 L.

Nourilo’s Tips

This soup is fragrant and mild with little herbal taste, fine for young and old. It can also help those with an overactive thyroid or thyroid swelling. For people watching their sugar who find red dates too sweet, swap them for date palm fruit.