Thursday, February 19, 2009

Teochew Tai Chi Chicken Soup

Tai Ji Ji Rong Geng

The menu at Teochew Restaurant listed this in English as a rather odd-sounding "Tai-Chi Mould (Kung-Fu Dish)," but I don't think this had anything to do with what sounded like two forms of martial arts. Instead, Tai-Chi was in reference to the yin and yang symbol (taijitu), whereas Kung-Fu, from what I gathered, was simply in reference to the "highly skilled" process required to make it...like gongfu tea.

Anyway, this basically turned out to be a spinach soup with some kind of chicken puree stuff floating on top to give it the contrasting colors; the two got mixed together before serving. This was also an example of a geng, or a Chinese soup with a thick consistency and savory taste that I enjoy.

So this bowl ended up being a delight to drink, even if I realized the hard way that this "small" size was really meant for a family rather than a single serving like I was led to believe. Then again, at S$15 (US$10), I sure would have hoped that it was bigger than a single serving.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay that's new.

Havent seen anything like that.

DT

Anonymous said...

I love geng too. Have you tried Heng Hwa food? There's a seaweed tofu geng that they are famous for. A little dash of black vinegar is all you need.

Another Heng Hwa style soup is "char hun" -- it's a geng with little rice vermicelli bits cooked till soft, a slight variation of the above soup and similar in consistency to taiwanese oyster noodles.

Anonymous said...

Normally not a big fan of artsy presentations. But that one sure caught my eye. Ying and yang. Fire and water. Plus it looks like two of my favorite non meat things - spinnich and oats. The cook spent a lot of time on that, I bet. Thanks. Now I will go eat my oatmeal. And have spinnich tonight.
tom

MaryQ said...

i've had this exact soup in hk before but i can't remember the name of the place and i found your blog while trying to track down the recipe. do you happen to recall the name of the restaurant? i think it was in central.