A very nice tasting winter melon soup!
It has been more than a year since I have posted a winter melon soup recipe and this is the first periwinkle recipe in this food blog. There is only one way that I could have come up with this tasty idea of combining these two items. That was by shopping at a great Vietnamese market in Las Vegas yesterday! I seem to get good recipe ideas when I shop at the local specialty markets. Periwinkles are a very nice tasting small sea snail. The flavor is very clean and not muddy at all. The delicate flavor of periwinkles seemed like a good match for the light savory flavor of winter melon soup. The nice mild complex flavor of Vietnamese perilla herb really added a nice finishing touch. Fresh herbs are commonly served with soups in Vietnamese cuisine. They are meant to be stirred into the soup to add a fresh crisp herb flavor. Ginkgo nuts have a nice delicate flavor of their own. Ginkgo nuts are a strong antioxidant and they help to boost the immune system. Lemongrass creates a nice broth flavor for winter melon. Lemongrass is a key herb in Vietnamese cuisine. Put it all together and this is a very tasty healthy soup! Lemongrass Winter Melon Soup with Periwinkles, Ginkgo Nuts and Vietnamese Perilla Recipe: This recipe makes 1 large bowl of soup! Three cups of broth may seem like a lot, but after simmering, some of the liquid will evaporate. Evaporation or reduction is figured into all of my soup recipes. Tie 1 shoot of lemongrass into a simple knot. Place the lemongrass knot into a pot. Add 3 cups of light chicken broth. Place the pot over medium high heat. Bring the broth to a gentle boil. Reduce the temperature to low heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste. Add sea salt and white pepper. Simmer the broth for 10 to 15 minutes, till lemongrass flavor infuses with the broth. Add 1 large handful of winter melon that is cut into cube shaped large bite size pieces. Add 3 to 4 ounces of poached periwinkles that are sliced into bite size pieces. (Poached shelled periwinkles can be purchased at asian markets. Fresh live periwinkles in their shells are available too.) Add 6 peeled fresh ginkgo nuts. Gently simmer the soup, till the winter melon becomes tender. Simmer till the winter melon turns from opaque to a translucent color. Remove the lemongrass knot. Ladle the soup into a bowl. Float a few very thin slices of onion on the surface of the soup. Place Vietnamese perilla leaves around the soup against the edge of the soup bowl.
Honestly, I was very pleased with the flavor of this soup! There is not a long list of ingredients in this soup, but the balance of flavor was very nice. This soup has a delicate flavor that brings on a smile! Yum! ... Shawna
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