Gochugaru Girl and her sisters used to keep pet terrapins in their garden pond.
We used to feed them watercress as often as we could.
It was an extremely wet day here in London when I made this soup, and I remembered the terrapins because we fed them water spinach as well as watercress. Sadly, when it rained the tiny pond over-flowed and we would lose the little creatures. Sometimes we would find them hidden behind a bush but mainly they just got swept away with the torrential rain water.
On the whole, Chinese parents do not encourage their children to have pets. The only domestic animal allowed would be a guard dog, and even then we were not always successful with them; we have had bad, mad and sad.
This vibrant green soup would make a light lunch along with some cheese scones. Both can be made ahead and reheated as necessary.
For the Soup:
1 small white onion
1 clove of garlic
2 cm piece of fresh ginger
2 stalks celery
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
250 g fresh spinach leaves
100 g watercress
750 ml vegetable stock
Coriander leaves and red chilli, for garnishing
How to Make:
Run the spinach and watercress through some water, drain and leave aside.
If you are using a stock cube for the stock, make this now and leave aside.
Slice the onion, garlic, ginger and celery. You can be as sloppy as you like, since everything will be blitzed in a food processor in the end.
Heat the oil in a large pot, and add the above mentioned vegetables. Fry for about 3 minutes.
Add the spinach, watercress and vegetable stock.
Bring to the boil, cover the pot with a lid, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat, cool a little then blitz in a food processor (I use a Vitamix).
Garnish with some coriander leaves and sliced red chilli before serving.
