Mum’s sweet & sour fish maw soup
As I mentioned in my earlier post, my favourite Hock Chew food is the sweet & sour fish maw soup (khor rhew hai rheng).
Hai Rheng = Sea Cucumber
Nobody does it better than my mum. Call me biased, but I grew up eating and loving every mouthful of it. 
Mum patiently fries the khor rhew until it is light and crispy, before adding it into the sweet & sour soup. The essential ingredients for this delightful dish is bamboo shoots, minced pork, sea cucumber, carrots, chives, egg & kampung koh chili sauce (I think!).
I came home from work last week and was greeted by its delicious aroma. Without putting down my bag, I quickly made my way to the kitchen and saw mum fussing over the stove. 
She scooped me a bowl, and I tucked in with utter delight. My dad likes his fish maw slightly chewy (undercooked) while I like mine airy and light. Mum tries to please us both, so she takes half the fish maw out 5 minutes earlier for dad and leaves the rest to fry for me.
The soup is spicy, sour, sweet, savoury and eggy-thick. All the flavours I love! I usually don’t mind sharing my food with others, but this one I’d fight for…right to the last drop! =D
4 Responses
hmmm looks very delicious!!!
Looks well worth fighting tooth and nail for! I haven’t seen this anywhere! Since I don’t want to have to fight you to get to your mom’s, where would I suggest I go for a commercial inferior version?
joe – it is to me, but it can be an acquired taste for some 😉
550ml – Orient Delights in TTDI Plaza sells it too. I haven’t tried it, but my parents have. My dad still likes my mum’s version better. They also have the red wine mee suah and foo chow fish balls.
Can she share her recipe?? I’m craving for this