Soup recipes for babies

Two healthy and easy to cook soup recipes for babies:

1. Chinese chicken soup

This is a common delicious Chinese soup that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Your baby can drink the soup and eat the fully cooked vegetables. Your child can also eat the meat if you cut it into small pieces after the chicken is ready. This soup is healthy and can help you to recover quicker when you get a cold. The soup itself can also be used as an ingredient for other baby/toddler recipes.

age: above 8 months

Ingredients:

- one corn-fed chicken or guinea fowl

- 4-5 slices ginger

Goji Berries

- 20 pieces of Goji berries


- 6-8 pieces of red Chinese Red Dates

- 15 pieces of Shiitake Mushrooms (can use fresh ones or dried ones, if you are using dried ones, wash them and soak them in water overnight)

- Optional: carrots, potatoes, sweet corn, yam

How to cook:

1. Put the washed chicken in a pot, then fill with cold water, the water level should be just above the chicken so that the whole chicken is soaked in water

2. Use strong heat until the water starts to boil, then use a spoon to get rid of the foam on the surface of the soup, then put in ginger, Goji berries, mushrooms, dates

3. Use low heat to cook for one hour, if you are using guinea fowl, then it will take probably 1.5 to 2 hours

4. Optional: you can also put in sweet corn, carrots, potatoes or yam. Carrots can be put in together with the ingredients in step 2, potatoes and yams need to be put in when the soup is about to be ready as they do not need to be cooked for very long time before they get soft.

Young babies cannot eat salty food, so take some soup out for your little one. For other family members, you can add a little salt and pepper and spring onion pieces in the soup.


2. Pork rib soup

age: above 8 months

Pork ribs can be combined with a lot of different ingredients to make delicious soup, but they are all easy to cook, and it is a nice addition to a meal for the whole family. Here are some examples for different kinds of rib soup:

Rib and sweet corn soup (carrots and/or potatoes can be an optional ingredient)

Rib and yam soup (carrots can be an optional ingredients)

Rib and lotus root soup (which is ideal for summer/autumn)

 Rib and white turnip soup (which is ideal for winter)

Rib and Seaweed soup (use dried kelp or kombu seaweed, they need to be washed and soaked in water for a night before use)

Rib soup with tomato and potato

Rib and mung bean soup (seaweed can be added as an optional ingredient, you should soak the mung beans for a night so that they will be easier to cook)

Ingredients:

The main ingredients for this soup are pork ribs. The ribs should be cut into small pieces. The quantity varies as it depends on how many people are going to eat the soup. The quantity of the secondary ingredient should be 1/3 to ½ of the ribs you want to use. Below I list some common ingredients which are needed for all the soups:

- pork ribs

- ginger 3-5 slices

- Goji Berries about 15 pieces (for the first five soups only)

- Chinese Red Dates about 6 pieces (for the first five soups only)

- optional: potatoes, yams, carrots, etc. (see examples above)

All the mentioned soup variations are easy to cook and have similar cooking procedures:

How to cook:

1. Put the rib pieces in a pot and add water, the amount of water should cover the ribs and other ingredients. Use strong heat to cook until the water starts to boil. Then use a spoon to get rid of the foam on the surface of the water.

2. Cut secondary ingredient into cubes (seaweed into pieces), and add into the pot (if your chosen soup contains white turnip or potato or yam, then they should be added when the soup is about to be ready), as well as ginger, goji berries and dates. Use low heat to cook for 1 hour to 1.5 hour

3. Take some soup and yam/carrots/turnip for your little one, the rest for the family can be salted and garnish with spring onion pieces.

Tipp: if you are cooking rib and tomato and potato soup, it is better to stir fry the tomato pieces in a pan with some cooking oil until the juice is out, then put it together with the ribs, the flavor will be better.