Colourful Hot Soup

It has been raining off and on in Malaysia so I am still in the soup mode. Recently I made this new soup which is a variation of my usual white radish and chicken soup. In addition to the white radish, I added some green radish and carrots. The idea for this soup originated from my mother who drank this version in Hong Kong. Trawling through the internet, I noticed that there are various interpretations of this soup also; Kuali has a similar one except they add burdock to the mix while Kitchen Capers' soup is a mix of green radishes, carrots and herbs.

Instead of red dates, I used one honey date (Mat Chou in Chinese) to add to the soup to make it sweet. You can get it at the Chinese medicine shops and make sure you choose the ones without the additional sugar coating. Don't use too much of it or else your soup will be too sweet. The honey date is said to help clear the phelgm of someone suffering from a cold. You can see the honey date on top but it's a bit mangled after being boiled for two hours. The soup was lovely, sweet enough to just drink without any additional salt. It made a wonderful one pot meal with some white rice. I added some dried scallops to the soup but you can omit them if you don't want your soup to be too sweet.

White radish, green radish and carrot soup
1 medium size white radish
1 medium size green radish
1 medium size carrot
2 chicken legs, deskinned
2 dried scallops
1 honey date (mat chou in Chinese)
Boiling water

Cut the top and bottom bits of the white radish, green radish and carrot. Peel the outer layer of the vegetables by using a vegetable peeler. Cut them into chunks. Set aside in a large pot. Boil water and pour it over the chicken legs in another pot. This helps clean out the oil and scum from the chicken. Leave for 2 minutes and drain. Transfer the chicken legs to the large pot with the other vegetables. Add the dried scallops and the honey date. Pour enough water to cover the ingredients. Boil the soup and let it simmer for two hours.