This flavorful Chinese Daikon and Carrot Soup recipe, is very common in Chinese households. This is because the soup is so easy to make, so nutritious, and tastes so good! A delicious soup, made with pork, dried shrimp and veggies!
Why This Chinese Daikon and Carrot Soup Is So GooD
- So easy to make!
- A nutritious soup – packed with veggies
- A hearty and warming soup
- A flexible soup, you can mix up the protein and veggies to suit your tastes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork, cut into large chunks
- Dried shrimp
- Dried scallops
- Ginger
- Garlic cloves
- Daikon radish, carrots, tomatoes
- Salt to taste
How To Make This Daikon and Carrot Soup Recipe – Step by Step
- Bring a large soup pot filled with water to a rolling boil. Add pork and bones and let boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Remove pork and set aside. Drain and discard the water, clean the pot if needed.
- Fill the pot with new water to make the broth (approximately 4 quarts) and add in the pork, bones, shrimp, scallops, ginger, garlic. Bring to a simmer and then turn the heat to medium-low, or hot enough to just produce a gentle simmer for 30-40 minutes.
- Occasionally, skim the soup of any fats or particles and discard. Add radish, carrots and tomatoes to the soup and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Season with salt (or fish sauce) to taste.
What Does A Daikon Radish Taste Like?
The daikon radish looks like a white carrot. It’s a root vegetable, but instead of having a potent, peppery taste, it’s sweet, crisp and mild. It can be used in salads, pickled or even stir-fried. It’s popular in some Asian cuisines.
Making Clear Soup – Asian Style
Soup is easy to make, but tough to master. Simply boiling ingredients and adding enough salt will make anything from flavored water to somewhat decent soup. I’m talking about making a broth that’s rich and concentrated but also clear and clean.
What is clear and clean soup? Well the French technique to making clear soup, or consommé, is to stir in egg whites. The proteins of the egg whites will collect and trap all of the sediment and fat from the soup, which then gets discarded.
The Asian way is different:
- Par-boil the meats and/or bones to get rid of the fats and other “muckity muck” that would otherwise cloud and taint your soup. (i.e. skin, blood, bone fragments, dirt – the stuff that makes for cloudy soup)
- Use umami-boosting dried or preserved ingredients to create nutritional benefits, richness and savoryness – dried Chinese mushroom, dried shrimp, dried scallops, dried abalone, preserved turnip, dried dates, dried lily buds, dried figs….well, you get the picture. If it can be preserved/dried, it will….and the Chinese will use it for soup!
In this recipe for Chinese Diakon and Carrot soup – you can use one or both techniques. I bring a big pot full of water to a rapid boil, then add in my meat/bones. I let it boil like crazy. This violent boiling action “scrubs” the meat and bones, forcing the impurities to be released. Let this happen for 10 minutes and then discard the water and fill the pot with new, clean water to create the broth.
I know your next question….”Doesn’t the par-boiling take away a lot of the flavor?”
The answer is no. Unless you count that scuzzy stuff as flavor. You don’t want that crap in your soup anyways. The real flavor of soup comes from a long, slow, gentle simmer of the meat and bones. Unless you use a pressure cooker, which I sometimes do too. But that’s a different sort of cooking technique.
A Flexible Soup Recipe!
This recipe, like all of my recipes, is flexible. Don’t eat pork? Use chicken instead. No daikon? Try potato. No dried shrimp/scallops? It’s optional.
Top Tips For This Daikon and Carrot Soup Recipe
- Feel free to swap protein and veggies.
- Doing a violent boil “scrubs” the meat and bones, forcing the impurities to be released.
- Make sure to occasionally, skim the soup of any fats or particles and discard.
- Season with salt or fish sauce.
Chinese Daikon and Carrot Soup Recipe – VIDEO
More Asian Soup Recipes
- Chinese Daikon Soup Recipe with Dried Scallops
- Thai Coconut Soup with Chicken Recipe
- Mom’s Chinese Chicken Soup Recipe
- Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Ka Gai)
Have you tried this Chinese Daikon and Carrot Soup recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I”d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Chinese Daikon and Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork cut into large chunks
- 6-8 dried shrimp
- 2-3 dried scallops
- One 2-inch piece of ginger cut into chunks
- 2 whole cloves garlic
- 1 large Daikon radish peeled and cut into chunks
- 3 large carrots peeled and cut into chunks
- 2-3 to matoes cut into quarters
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large soup pot filled with water to a rolling boil. Add pork and bones and let boil rapidly for 10 minutes.
- Remove pork and set aside. Drain and discard the water, clean the pot if needed. Fill the pot with new water to make the broth (approximately 4 quarts) and add in the pork, bones, shrimp, scallops, ginger, garlic.
- Bring to a simmer and then turn the heat to medium-low, or hot enough to just produce a gentle simmer for 30-40 minutes.
- Occassionally, skim the soup of any fats or particles and discard. Add radish, carrots and tomatoes to the soup and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Season with salt (or fish sauce) to taste.
Notes
- Feel free to swap protein and veggies.
- Doing a violent boil "scrubs" the meat and bones, forcing the impurities to be released.
- Make sure to occasionally, skim the soup of any fats or particles and discard.
- Season with salt or fish sauce.
Nutrition
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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Sounds like a Soup is like to try. Do you eat the dried shrimp and scallops or are they there for umami flavoring and then discarded?
You can certainly eat them! They are delicious.
Made this for my Taiwanese wife and she loved it.
I came across this recipe looking for something different to do with the daikons from my CSA. Excited to attempt a Chinese soup at home! Based on the comments, though, I’m confused about whether the veggies and meat are meant to flavor a broth, or if they, too, are meant to be eaten as part of the soup. Also, my husband came home from the store with dried whole tiger prawns…is this what you intended to flavor the broth?
Hi Jamie – You can either eat the vegetables or just leave them in the cooker for flavor. Usually, I’ll eat the veggies within the 1st day, as they become too soggy and flavorless after day 1. I’ll use a slotted spoon or strainer to lift out any leftover vegetables, herbs and meats that are spent – and replace with new. As for the dried prawns, they’re perfect to add to the bone broth. Add just a few (depending on how big the prawns are – perhaps 2 tablespoons worth).
This soup sounds delish, could I use Chicken or Beef instead of Pork ?
Chicken would be great!
A very simple and easy recipe. I tried this recipe and followed exactly as written. Ended up tasting like water with daikon and carrots. To truly obtain a sweet broth, you need to boil the bones for hours. A simple quick recipe like this doesn’t really cut it. Chinese soups take time and not a “quick meal”.
Would this recipe work with a slowcooker/crockpot?
depending which Chinese restaurant we go to, we will get served this broth to start the meal. Plus it’s complimentary.
Hi, I can’t seem to get the recipe for this one to show up on my screen — looks so yummy and I can’t wait to try it!
I discovered making daikon soup by accident. I ate dinner at my Mom’s one day and she made daikon dish for the main course. It was almost dry, so it really wasn’t meant to be soup. She gave me some leftovers. The next day, I added some broth to it and and adjusted the seasonings. Wow! To my surprise I liked it better as soup.
I also par-boil all my meats to get rid of all that muck and to get that clean taste. I simmer the meat bones together with what you call “umami-boosting” ingredients, until the meat separates from the bones. Once done, I let it cool then put in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, I skim the fat that solidified on top. The broth comes out clear and clean.
Oh man. This brings back memories. Whenever I am up in Toronto, depending which Chinese restaurant we go to, we will get served this broth to start the meal. Plus it’s complimentary.
Wonderful!
I love this soup. I grew up drinking this. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Jaden. =)
I love this soup! I grew up drinking this and my mom would make this when she wanted to serve soup but have little time in the kitchen. She adds green daikon for additional flavor.
Thanks for the recipe! My sister made a clear soup for our big monthly dinner last month but I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I’ll have to try out this one. 🙂
Yum! Thanks for the recipe. My mom makes this too, and she adds cabbage!
Gorgeous, clear soup! I didn’t know there were techniques to making soup clear. Good to know!
I’ve been thinking about Nathan a lot lately! Hope he feels better soon. xo.
This soup look good. Going to have dental work soon and like this soup puree to eat. I looking for soup pot with spout and pour into bowl like for tea. Seen it in some French restautants doing it now.
Hope Nathan is feeling much better. Love clear broth soups! So comforting 🙂
Looks yumm!
My mom made this…she also put in green daikon.