Watercress, South Almond, Carrot & Dried-Tangerine Soup

Why people make this soup

I love folding minced pork through chopped watercress for dumplings — fragrant and tasty — and when I’ve bought too much, watercress soup is the best way to clear lung-and-stomach heat. It pairs beautifully with luo han guo in a snakehead-fish soup, or with carrot and aged duck gizzard in a pork-rib soup, both kindly to people with a dry-lung cough or bronchitis. Today I bought 600 g of watercress, blanched it briefly to take off some of the bitterness, chopped the tender leaves for egg dumplings, and used the rest with carrot, almond and dried-tangerine cake for a clear, moistening soup — lovely for those with lots of phlegm, a cough, or bronchitis.