Winter Melon Soup

My first attempt at a chinese soup! It turned out quite delicious and Thomas's mom liked it too! Eventually I want to learn how to make it inside the melon! I used the recipe from Epicurious as a guideline but pretty much eyeballed things. This recipe was for a lot more soup than I intended to make so everything is scaled down.

For broth

• 1 (3- to 3 1/2-lb) whole chicken (3 chicken thighs)
• 1 bunch scallions, halved crosswise (2)
• 2 oz Smithfield or other cured ham (1 piece or sliced), trimmed of any spice coating (I used 2 slices of ham and was afraid that it wouldn't be strong enough so I added a little bit of bacon too. Ideally you would use chinese ham)
• 1 (1-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, smashed (sliced so that I could pick it out easily later)
• 14 cups water (half a box of chicken broth and then enough water to cover the thighs in the med pot)
• 1 tablespoon salt

For soup

• 5 (1-inch-wide) large dried scallops (I didn't have any -_-, I was going to add fish sauce to taste if the soup was too bland but I ended up not needing to)
• 1 (2-lb) wedge winter melon (ok I have no idea, I just cut enough melon to fill the pot)
• 2 oz Smithfield or other cured ham (1 piece or sliced), trimmed of any spice coating and cut into very thin matchsticks (1/2 cup) (I cut up the chicken from the broth making instead)
• 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very thin matchsticks (2 tablespoons) (skipped)
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced (1/2 cup) (1 was enough)

preparation

Make broth: I did this differently so this part is not copy pasted

Place all the broth ingredients together and boil. Skim off the scum as you go. Once it has boiled for about 5-10 minutes you can put the lid on and bring the heat down to low. Overall cook for about an hour and then take everything out. Cut up the bits of chicken but discard the rest. Hehe at this point I was a bit scared because the soup smelled kinda like bacon. The flavor was good and a rather mild thankfully

Make soup:

Bring broth to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan,

Cut off and discard rind from winter melon. Remove and discard seeds, then cut melon into 1/3-inch cubes). Add to broth and gently simmer, uncovered, until melon is transparent, 20 to 30 minutes. Stir in chicken, scallions, and salt to taste just before serving. This was the most amazing part. I covered the soup because I like my green onions cooked and when I opened it again the bacon smell was gone! replaced by the greener smell of the green onions but not too strong. Yum. Very satisfying esp. when it's cold outside.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Winter-Melon-Soup-233787#ixzz2kObE2Ff6