Chinese Spinach Soup With Wolfberries And Garlic

Recently, I bought a bunch of Chinese spinach at the weekend night market (pasar malam). It cost only RM1 (~USD0.33). Cheap eh? Fast forward a few days later, I found some of the spinach leaves to be wilting. Oh gosh I know I need to use it right away.

Chinese spinach soup or seong tong yuen choy (what we called it in Cantonese) is the answer. It took me 30 minutes from preparation to serving. Fairly quick in my book. 🙂


I used dried anchovies to ‘season’ the broth and wolfberries (better known as goji berries or kei chi in Cantonese) to sweeten the soup. Finally I add some garlic for fragrance.

Let’s start cooking!

First thing first, add 3 bowls of water (I use Chinese soup bowl) into a saucepan with medium heat.

Add a handful of dried anchovies and bring water to boil (10-15minutes).

Meanwhile, pluck spinach leaves and rinse well. Do not include thick stems as the part is tough to bite. By the time I’m done with the leaves, my broth is boiling.

Scoop out the anchovies and discard it. I use a mini colander to scoop ’em. If you like anchovies, you can leave it there. Now add a handful of wolfberries and 2-3 cloves roughly chopped garlic. Bring broth to boil.

Once the broth is boiling, add spinach leaves. Add a few dashes of white pepper and light soy sauce to taste.

Bring broth to boil one last time. Do not over boil the vegetable or else it will turn yellowish. Serve hot.

I’ve cooked this soup a few times and I must say this is the best one I’ve come up with so far, though it’s still not able to compete with restaurant version. Hehe

The brownish color in the soup is due to light soy sauce.

I know some version add pork to it and I must say I dislike the fusion of pork and spinach. 😛 Adding fish and fish ball (will sweeten the soup) is highly recommended.

Give this a try will ya?
And, here’s a stir-fry spinach recipe for you.

Chinese Spinach Soup with Wolfberries & Garlic
Serves 2-3

1 bunch Chinese spinach
2-3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 handful wolfberries (also known as goji berries/kei chi)
1 handful dried anchovies
3 soup bowls of water
light soy sauce
white pepper

Method:
1. Place dried anchovies in a saucepan and bring water to boil (10-15 minutes).

2. Pluck spinach leaves and rinse well. Do not include thick stems.

3. Remove dried anchovies once the broth is boiling.

4. Add wolfberries & garlic into the saucepan and bring to boil.

5. Add spinach and bring soup to boil again. Remember not to over boil the vegetable or else it will turn yellowish.

6. Add a few dashes of white pepper and light soy sauce to taste.

7. Serve hot.