Great Burdock Soup with White Radish, Carrot and Shitake Mushroom | Easy Asian Cooking

Great Burdock Soup 牛蒡汤

I have never made great burdock (牛蒡) soup before in my life. Great burdock sounds unfamiliar to me, the only impression is, I vaguely remember mom did mention that burdock possesses a myriad of health benefits before. Nonetheless, I decided to brave the unknown and hence have bought a two-meter-long burdock root home while patronizing wet market days ago. With mom's brief narration through the phone, I embarked on my burdock soup adventure, pairing it with white radish, carrot and shitake mushroom, a bowl of meatless soup that can be loosely construed as dinner. Oh ya, I shouldn't label it as an adventure, as the soup is pretty foolproof and you can't go wrong anyway. *wink*

Great burdock (botanical name: Arctium lappa) showers upon us heaps of medicinal properties as I peruse the search engine in the web. To name a few, as a blood purification agent, internal body cleanser, chronic skin disorders remedy (such as acne, eczema, psoriasis and skin ulcers), cold, sore throat and tonsillitis remedy, contains antioxidant properties for treating cancer, protects the liver from harmful toxins, treats ringworm and urinary tract infections, treat inflammation, cure diabetic, prevents water retention and etcera. With all these natural cure-all properties, great burdock is popular among health-conscious and those interested in maintaining ideal weight.

Tastes sweet and palatable, great burdock soup cleanses the palate in between eating dishes and viands of different flavors. Taste wise, the soup have nothing special to rave about, but who would have thought that this nondescript humble burdock root could boast such an astounding number of health benefits and healing properties?

If you wish to have great burdock soup to warm up your tummy and works wonders in your body, then below burdock soup recipe is for you.

Ingredients :

Great Burdock Soup Ingredients : (from top) White Radish, Great Burdock, Carrot, Shitake Mushroom

1 white radish, skin peeled off, cut into large chunks
1-meter-long great burdock (牛蒡), brush off any muds on its skin while rinsing under cold running water, cut into 2-inch thick slices
1 carrot, skin peeled off, cut into large chunks
4 shitake mushroom, soaked in warm water, halved
1200ml water
Salt to taste

Methods :

1. In a stockpot, pour in 1200ml of water and add in all the ingredients when it reaches a rolling boil. Cover the lid, reduce to low heat and simmer for 1 hour.

2. Add salt to taste 5 minutes before turning off the flame.

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