Name: Easy Chinese ABC Soup ABC 排骨蔬菜汤
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 35 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 250 grams pork ribs; 1 large yellow onion, (roughly chopped or whole); 1 large carrot, (peeled and cut to chunks); 1 corn, (cut); 3 stalks of cut celery, (optional); 2 medium tomato, (cut to wedges); 2 tbsp ikan bilis, rinsed, (optional); 3 red dates; 1.2 litres water; Salt to taste, (optional)

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Nutritious all-time kids favourite soup!
Slow simmer different types of root vegetables in this easy-to-cook Chinese soup for your family dinner.

After days of great and happy feasting over the CNY, I guess it’s really good to eat meals with food that goes lighter on your palate!

I remember when I was younger, my nanny who is a Cantonese, loves to boil soup. I super love her watercress soup – the childhood taste that I still recall fondly now. So I grew up loving soups during meal times, and I try to make it a point to boil soup for my family now, if I have the time.

This easy Chinese ABC soup is one of my go-to favourites, since it contains different types of vegetables, boiled into a nutritious pot of soup. My kids enjoy the soup too!

若想阅读中文版本，请在网页的右边 “Google Translate” 点击选择中文简体 (Chinese Simplified）或繁体 (Chinese Traditional) 翻译。可能食谱读起来会怪怪的，所以如果有疑问都可以问哦！

What is ABC Soup?

Do you find the name of the soup a little funny? ABC? Why?

Well, there are lots of reasons explaining why this is called the ABC soup:

Is it because this soup is as easy as ABC?
Is it because the ingredients include a-nion (onion), b-otato (potato) and carrot (pronounced in the Singlish slang)?
Is it because of the vitamins (ABC)?

What Ingredients Do I Need For This Chinese ABC Soup?

So, jokes aside! For this Chinese ABC soup, we commonly use potato, carrots and yellow onions.

Occasionally, I’d like to leave the starchy potato out, and replace with tomato and/or corn instead. Sometimes I’d also like to throw in a few stems of celery. This soup is so versatile that you can mix-and-match with your favourite vegetables!

>> MORE CHINESE SOUP RECIPES:

How Does This ABC Soup Taste Like?

It is a very light, clear soup, suitable on hot days too.

I especially like the slightly sour taste from the tomatoes. You will also be able to taste the carrot and corn in the soup.

What If I Do Not Have Pork Ribs?

If you do not like pork ribs, you can also use pork soup bones, chicken bones or chicken drumstick.

Or, if you want a lighter soup base, replace the meat bones entirely with ikan bilis! Just note that the cooking time can be much shorter if you use ikan bilis.