Experiment 22: Weird Soup - Chicken in Beef Flavor

Prelab:
When you look at the fridge and find that it's near empty when it comes to seasonings, you just toss in whatever and improvise with what you have. Ma mere's idea was puzzling, but I thought it was fun to try. I probably I got my good sense of improvisation from her. Mon pere is the exact opposite though, for he usually sticks with the long-and-tested method when it comes to cooking. I say "usually" because on some occasions, he tries other things too.

Date Performed: January 15, 2011

Ingredients:
~1/3 Chicken meat strips
1 Beef Cube (for beef stock)
120 g Local spinach leaves
400 g Tofu, cubed
1 tsp Soy sauce
pepper
*water (~2 cups)

Preparation:
Heat pot in medium flame. Pour a small amount of water just enough to cover the bottom of the pot. Add thinly sliced chicken strips. Cook sides for about 3 minutes until chicken meat turns white. Add water. Dissolve 1 beef cube and mix. Add soy sauce to taste. Put the tofu and cook for about 7 minutes. Add pepper to taste midway while cooking the tofu. Mix occasionally and cover.

When done, turn off the flame. Add the spinach leaves and mix gently. Serve.

* Add desired amount of water for soup.

Post-lab:
Unexpectedly tastes good! (Well, it's good for sick people who don't have chicken stock.) Ma mere wants to add sesame oil on her soup though. Mine's fine without.

The next morning, ma mere did a remake of the leftover soup by adding pechay leaves. I didn't like the remake because the new flavor from the leaves brings a sharp, bitter contrast to the previous taste.