Pork Ribs Soup with Toufu and Szechuan Vegetable (zhacai)

Had a really good påskafton in Helsingborg with a fellow Singaporean, Denise and her family. Funnily enough, she found my blog and sent me a message and that's how we became friend. We even played mahjong and had a really good home-cooked dinner by her, felt so 幸福！Feel just like home in Singapore when my Dad would cook dinner and this soup is his creation. I know, it's not a new dish but the cooking method and the addition of dried shrimps and ginger is not something I've encountered at all when I buy this soup at food courts and I think it makes a world of difference. So here's my family recipe for you to try :)

Ingredients (Serves 2)

500g pork ribs, blanched in boiling water and drained.

A handful of dried shrimps, soaked for 5 minutes and drained

2-3 slices of ginger

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 block of toufu

1 head of Szechuan vegetable, sliced and soaked for about 30 minutes.

About two bowls of boiling water

1 large tomato (optional)

Steps

1. In a dry pot, dry-fry the dried shrimps first until the moisture is gone before adding a tablespoon of oil to stir fry it until slightly fragrant.
2. Add the ginger and garlic and stir fry slightly before adding the boiling water and pork ribs and let it come to a boil before letting it simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
3. Add in the Szechuan vegetable and sliced toufu and let it simmer for another 10 minutes until you see 'holes' in the toufu. My sister likes to add some tomatoes too at this stage.
4. Taste and season with salt before serving if necessary, it may depend on how salty the Szechuan vegetable is.