Sharks Fin Melon Soup

I've used my homemade collagen stock as the soup base to prepare a pot of sharks fin melon soup, it tasted simply delicious! What's inside this bowl of hearty and warm soup? Sharks fin melon of course with marinated chicken thighs, dried scallops, carrots, honey dates and wolfberries. Together with the collagen stock base, it is simmered over the stove for only one hour. If you find it cumbersome to prepare the stock base in advance, you can try the usual soup cooking method*. 

This is the first time I handle this sharks fin melon. There are lots of seeds embedded inside the melon!! How to remove them without removing most of the melon flesh? I try out the steaming method as it softens the flesh, making it easier to scrap out most of the seeds.

To make the chicken thighs more tasty, I marinate it with Chinese wine and a little salt 

 soaking the dried scallops with some Chinese wine prior to use

honey dates and wolfberries to sweeten the soup

I skipped rice for lunch today, as this bowl of rich and flavourful soup is enough to fill me up! 

Ingredient (4 servings)

• 1kg sharks fin melon
• 200gm carrots, cut into chunks
• 4 whole chicken thigh
• 30gm dried scallops (*soaked in Chinese wine overnight)
• 2 honey dates
• 1 heap tbsp wolfberries, soaked till soften
• 1.25L homemade collagen stock*
• salt to taste

Method

1. Peel off the skin of the melon. Place it on a plate and steam over high heat for 20mins. Gently scrape off the seeds embedded in the melon. Cut the melons into quarters.
2. Meanwhile trim away excess fats from chicken thigh. Marinate with 1 tbsp Chinese wine and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside for at least 30mins.
3. Bring stock to boil. Add in sharks fin melon, carrots, marinated chicken thighs, scallops (together with the soaked wine) and honey dates. Cover pot and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.
4. At the last 5 mins, add in softened wolfberries and boil briefly. Add salt to taste if desired.
5. Turn off heat and serve!

*Alternative : Replace stock with 2L water, add in 400gm blanched pork ribs and 1 whole chicken bone, bring to boil and simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Remove chicken bones and add in sharks fin melon, carrots, fresh chicken thigh, dried scallops and honey dates. Simmer for another 1 hour. Add wolfberries at the last 5 mins and add salt to taste.