Long gourd soup with pork ribs

Long gourd is a kind of cheap vegetables that most common families can afford for daily meals in Vietnam. It’s mostly used in cooking soups. There are various soups using long gourd that base on meat stock of some kinds. Pork ribs make good stock too and many Vietnamese housewives like using pork ribs in soups.

What make this soup even more flavorful and tastier are the presence of fresh ginger and mui tau, a kind of veggie-herb well-known to Vietnamese cooking.

Ingredients (serves 4)

- 500g pork ribs, chopped

- 500g long gourd, peeled and core removed, cut into half-round pieces

- 1 tbs crushed fresh ginger

- 3 stalks green onion, chopped

- 3 stalks mùi tàu (see the image below)

- 1 tbs fish sauce

- salt

Cooking:

- Clean the ribs well and pour hot boiling water over the ribs to remove any undesired smell. Drain.

- Add the ribs to a large saucepan with 1tbs fish sauce and ginger, set medium heat and cook, stirring constantly until the ribs start to get dry. Pour water into the saucepan, about 4 cups, bring to a boil, then simmer until the ribs are tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

- Add the gourd pieces to the saucepan once the ribs are tender. Cook for another 10 minutes or until the gourd pieces are tender.

- Stir in the chopped green onion and mui tau before removing from the heat.