Diakon Soup

The cooler weather brings yearning for hot soup. In case you haven't used your white radishes yet, you can try substituting the radishes for daikon (white turnip) in this recipe from "Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan", a compilation of recipes my mother gave me.

• 1-2 pounds of daikon (or any white turnip/radish)
• half pound of pork ribs, chopped into 1" or one rib section pieces
• salt and pepper
  

1. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add pork ribs and boil for half a minute. Then drain and rinse the pork. This minimizes the scum that can seep out of the bones.
2. Put the pork ribs back into the pot with 5 cups of water. Bring it back to a boil, reduce to low heat, and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, peel the daikon and cut it up into 1" chunks. Add daikon to the soup and let simmer for 5 minutes until pork and daikon are tender.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:
Add rice noodles to make a filling one-pot meal. Add cauliflower, black mushrooms, lily buds, "tree ear" black fungus, kelp or tofu.

Be sure to reconstitute the dried black mushrooms, lily buds or black fungus in warm water for 5 minutes. Then rinse and drain before adding them to the soup. Dried kelp can be put directly in the soup.