Digital World Disco Soup Day 2020
Article by Charmaine Lau; photos by PMQ Taste Library
On 25 April 2020, we celebrated the annual World Disco Soup Day in Hong Kong on Facebook live for the first time! This was in answer to Slow Food International’s call to have the event go digital rather than have it stopped by the coronavirus pandemic. In its 4th year since 2017, World Disco Soup Day is a Slow Food initiative to reduce food waste around the globe.
Slow Food Hong Kong was honoured to have food programme curator and host Lili Ho of A flaneur’s journal to showcase a cooking demo, in collaboration with PMQ Taste Library generously providing the venue in support of the event, of a no-waste classic winter melon soup that made good use of ingredients straight from the Lili’s fridge.
Lili chitchatted with us as she showed to the Facebook audience how to process the ingredients. During this time of the pandemic when many of us were cooking a lot more at home – and perhaps guilty of falling prey to the over-buying frenzy – we might be finding a lot more extra food in our fridges than usual. What to do? Please do not throw it all away! We must remind ourselves that it is a privilege to have access to food, and eliminate food waste whenever possible. What should we do with surplus or leftover food? One answer is making a soup!
Lili skillfully utilised a medley of dried and fresh ingredients that she scavenged, including scallops and mushrooms both dried and fresh. She substituted the more traditional Jinhua ham, a dry cured ham commonly found in a winter melon soup, with some finely chopped leftover charsiu (i.e. barbecued pork). This genius improvisation is what ultimately infused the final product with a delicious array of colours, textures and flavours.
During the live session, the history and philosophies of the global Slow Food movement were also discussed. It all began in Italy in the 1980s as a response to the advent of fast food in Europe. Slow Food is premised on the idea of appreciating the food we eat, not just as things to consume, but as the culmination of labour that went into sowing, growing, harvesting, and transforming. The goal is to reconnect ourselves with the entire food system, to learn to respect and appreciate where our food comes from, not just as a way to keep up with recent food trends but as a way to transform our entire food culture.
Slow Food’s philosophy is “good, clean, fair food for all” – perhaps we can all make use of World Disco Soup Day to rethink our food habits and how they can contribute to a better world.
To replay the Facebook live session, click here.
To get updates on Slow Food Hong Kong’s events and happenings, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or join as a member.
Winter Melon Soup
Ingredients
• winter melon, peeled (half pureed, half cubed)
• conpoy (soaked and shredded)
• fresh scallops
• shiitake mushrooms (rehydrated and cut into small cubes)
• straw mushrooms (blanched in boiling water and a splash of cooking wine to rid the “straw-iness” of the mushroom that some people dislike; cut into small chunks)
• ginger slices
• charsiu (cut into small cubes)
• stock (any type)
• salt
• white pepper
• coriander (optional)
Directions
1. To begin, heat wok to medium, add a bit of oil and swirl around.
2. Add a few ginger slices once the oil is hot (try the wooden skewer trick! put a wooden skewer in the wok, if bubbles form around the skewer, the oil is hot enough).
3. Add in conpoy and dried mushroom. Fry for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
4. Add in the water used to soak the conpoy and mushroom (flavour, flavour, flavour!)
5. Once the liquid boils, add in the winter melon chunks, turn heat to low. Cover wok.
6. As the soup is simmering, tear scallops into smaller pieces and cut char siu into tiny cubes (basically a substitution for Jinhua ham) — the tinier they are, the more they will resemble the ham and dissolve into the soup. No need to make them all even in size, a variation will actually make the soup more interesting textually.
7. Add a pinch of salt, half a tablespoon of cooking wine, and a touch of white pepper (optional) to the fresh scallops, mix.
8. Check on soup, the winter melon should have softened by now. Add 1-2 cups of stock. Turn heat to medium.
9. Add pureed winter melon and straw mushrooms. Let cook for another while. The pureed winter melon will help thicken the soup.
10. Add fresh scallops, then the charsiu.
11. Taste and add additional seasoning if deemed necessary.
12. Add coriander, turn stove off.
13. Serve on its own or with rice.
