Skip to content
Hóng Kitchen

Hong Kong Borscht (Hung Soup)

Chinese · Easy · Serves 4

Hong Kong Borscht (Hung Soup)
Hong Kong Borscht (Hung Soup)
The cha chaan teng's own "borscht" and the fusion canon's gentlest joke: a tomato-beef vegetable soup with no beet anywhere — the Russian borshch's name arriving via Shanghai's White Russian tables and losing the beet at the Cantonese harbour, the dish becoming the tea restaurant's own tomato-meat comfort soup. The hung soup is the Hong Kong fusion's honest history at the one bowl; the technique is the beef's base and the tomato's long simmer, the soup the cha chaan teng's lunch set's standing opener.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The soup's base

The tomato's body

The finish

  • the beet's cousin the soup's own vegetable argument)
- The beef's blanch and the plan: the beef blanched 3 minutes at the rolling boil, drained — the clean soup's own start — and the vegetables' mise cut to the soup's even arguments (the 2 cm's uniformity the bowl's own honesty). - The tomato's dual argument: the tomato paste's early fry (the pan's concentrated depth) and the fresh tomatoes' later simmer (the soup's body) — the two arguments' timing the soup's whole flavour's architecture.
Step 1. The beef's sear and the paste's fry — 5 minutes. The oil at the medium-high, the blanched beef's cubes seared to their browned edges (3 minutes), and the onion, garlic and tomato paste through for the 2-minute fry — the paste's brick-red oil the soup's own first foundation. Checkpoint — the pot's base runs the tomato paste's fried, brick-red depth with the beef's browned perfume — the soup's whole colour argument started dry, and the raw paste's tinny note the unfried paste's certain end.
Step 2. The simmer's patience — 30 minutes at the murmur. The carrots, celery and stock through, the bay leaf and seasonings' addition — the soup at the barest simmer (the 95 °C murmur) for 25 minutes, the potatoes and fresh tomatoes' entry at the halfway mark, the cabbage's shred at the final 10. Checkpoint — at 35 minutes' total: the beef yields at the chopstick's push (the tender's chew — the shin's honest argument, not the braise's collapse), the potatoes run their just-tender hold, and the soup's body runs the tomato's gentle orange-red — the broth's clear-savoury frame around the vegetable's sweetness.
Step 3. The finish and the service. The Worcestershire's splash and the sugar's balance at the final taste — the parsley's scatter over the bowls — the soup served hot at the lunch set's first argument. Checkpoint — the eating test: the broth's tomato-sweet savoury with the Worcestershire's quiet edge, the tender beef's chew and the vegetables' soft-hold arguments in the one spoon — the cha chaan teng's own "borscht" complete: no beet, no sour cream, no argument — the fusion's honest history at the one comforting bowl. Chef’s Note — the soup's history is the dish's own honest joke and the cha chaan teng's whole thesis in miniature: the Russian borshch's beet argument lost at the Shanghai-to-Hong Kong migration's translation, and the Cantonese kitchen's tomato-beef instinct filling the name — the hung soup the fusion canon's own evolution at the one bowl. The Worcestershire's splash (the baked pork chop rice's #114 same signature) the Western echo's own whisper, and the beef's shin the cha chaan teng's economy: the soup's long set's menu the tender's own patience.
Hong Kong Borscht (Hung Soup)

Hong Kong Borscht (Hung Soup)

Prep: 20 minutes · Cook: 35 minutes · Total: About 55 minutes · Serves 4

Ingredients

The soup's base

  • 300 g beef shin or brisket, cut to 2 cm cubes
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) neutral oil
  • 1 onion, diced; 2 carrots, sliced
  • 2 sticks celery, sliced; 1 potato, cubed
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 tbsp (10 g) tomato paste

The tomato's body

  • 400 g fresh tomatoes, quartered (or the 400 g canned tomatoes' honest equivalence)
  • 1.2 litres beef stock or water
  • 1 bay leaf; 1 tsp (5 g) salt, ¼ tsp (1 g) white pepper
  • 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar (the tomato's balance); 1 tbsp (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce (the fusion's other echo)

The finish

  • The cabbage's 100 g, shredded, at the final 10 minutes (the borscht's last echo — the beet's cousin the soup's own vegetable argument)
  • The fresh parsley or the spring onion's scatter

Instructions

  1. The beef's sear and the paste's fry — 5 minutes. The oil at the medium-high, the blanched beef's cubes seared to their browned edges (3 minutes), and the onion, garlic and tomato paste through for the 2-minute fry — the paste's brick-red oil the soup's own first foundation. Checkpoint — the pot's base runs the tomato paste's fried, brick-red depth with the beef's browned perfume — the soup's whole colour argument started dry, and the raw paste's tinny note the unfried paste's certain end.
  2. The simmer's patience — 30 minutes at the murmur. The carrots, celery and stock through, the bay leaf and seasonings' addition — the soup at the barest simmer (the 95 °C murmur) for 25 minutes, the potatoes and fresh tomatoes' entry at the halfway mark, the cabbage's shred at the final 10. Checkpoint — at 35 minutes' total: the beef yields at the chopstick's push (the tender's chew — the shin's honest argument, not the braise's collapse), the potatoes run their just-tender hold, and the soup's body runs the tomato's gentle orange-red — the broth's clear-savoury frame around the vegetable's sweetness.
  3. The finish and the service. The Worcestershire's splash and the sugar's balance at the final taste — the parsley's scatter over the bowls — the soup served hot at the lunch set's first argument. Checkpoint — the eating test: the broth's tomato-sweet savoury with the Worcestershire's quiet edge, the tender beef's chew and the vegetables' soft-hold arguments in the one spoon — the cha chaan teng's own "borscht" complete: no beet, no sour cream, no argument — the fusion's honest history at the one comforting bowl.

Troubleshooting

SymptomCauseFix
Soup's body thin, the tomato's argument shyThe paste's fry skipped, or the simmer shortThe paste's 2-minute fry; the full 35 minutes' patience
Beef tough at the spoonThe shin's clock cutThe murmur's full patience — the 35-minute ceiling
Soup one-flat savouryThe sugar's balance or the Worcestershire skippedThe tomato's sweetness rounded; the fermented edge's splash

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The soup keeps 3 days and improves — the standing pot the cha chaan teng's own menu doctrine; the freezer's month the batch cook's honest dividend. - The canon's variations run the macaroni's addition (the soup's lunch-set carbohydrate argument at the tea restaurant's fuller bowl) and the beet's honest return (the purist's experiment — the soup's other history); the cha chaan teng's soup canon's kin the cream soup's white register at the same set's other argument.