南杏海椰鹌鹑湯/Quail with Apricot Kernel and Sea Coconut Soup

If you want to have a really old and authentic Cantonese cuisine soup, you should definitely try this Quail with Apricot Seed and Sea Coconut Soup.  Sea coconut is used in traditional Chinese medicine to nourish the lungs and ease coughs.  This makes it a good soup for the winter or rainy days however, it is not recommended for infants and toddlers.  It is a very easy soup to make and you can find the ingredients in any Chinatown.

Ingredients:

·      8 oz pork backbones

·      2 quails

·      6 dried honey dates

·      0.5 oz apricot kernel

·      1 oz fig

·      1 oz sea coconut

·      2 oz dried longan

·      1 oz sliced ginger roots

·      1½ tsp salt

Directions:

1.     Wash all the dried ingredients 2 – 3 times before cooking.

2.     In a large soup pot, add pork backbones, quail, dried honey dates, apricot kernel, fig, sea coconut, dried longan, ginger and 2.5 liter water (about half of the soup pot). Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to the lowest, use a soup strainer to strain all the dark bubbles on top of the water.  Reduce the heat to the lowest and cook for 3 hours, add salt.  Now enjoy your authentic Quail with Apricot Seed and Sea Coconut Soup!

This soup can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.  Just make sure to boil it for a few minutes before eating.