Beetroot Soup



I recently made a salad with grated raw-beetroot: it was delicious!




Beetroot or redbeet leaves

 
Beetroots (root and leaves) are said to be full of vitamins A and betaine (good for cardiovascular health -wikipedia source).

My Mum usually makes salad with redbeet (with the root and discard the leaves).
Quick recipe: Wash the root and cook it in boiling water* until tender; let it cool down, peel and slice it into big chunks. In a salad bowl prepare dressing**, and toss the root cut into pieces in; mix well.  

* The water used for boiling the beetroot in can be later used as a dye to colour clothes in pink.

* My Mum's vinaigrette - salad dressing: Mix one by one the following ingredients in this order:
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (whole grain or ground seeds), - 1 pinch salt, - freshly ground black pepper (to taste), - 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, - 3 tbsp olive oil. If you like a strong pungent flavour add 1 clove of crushed garlic in.  Mix well.

Here in Hong Kong I learnt to use both the leaves and the root of this vegetable and make a delicious soup together with pork and ginger. 

Below is the adapted recipe given to me by Hong Chi Homestead (a social enterprise from whom I order organic vegetables each week).

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of ginger, gèung
• ½ catty (300g) of lean pork, sau-jyù-yuhk
• 1 beet root (root and leaves), hùhng-choi-tàuh or tìhm-choi-tàuh (which in Chinese literally mean red-vegetable-head and sweet-vegetable-head respectively)
• 6 bowls of water

Steps:

1. Peel, wash, and cut into large chunks the red beet root.
2. Wash and cut the leaves into 10cm pieces.
3. Wash and scald pork.
4. Bring 6 bowls of water to a boil. Put in pork, root and ginger and bring to the boil again.
5. Cook over high-flame for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat.
6. Cook over low-flame for another 45 minutes.
7. Add the red beet leaves in.
8. Cook for another 15 minutes (until the leaves are tender)
9. Bon appétit!