Thanks to Quanfa Organic Farm, organic produce easily makes up half of my plants intake now. I like ordering from them because:

1. Their free delivery quota ($60), as far as I know, is the lowest of all organic farms,
2. The locally-grown veggies are of high quality and affordable,
3. They offer a good variety of local & imported produce, many which are not available in regular supermarkets.
4. Although they do sell some produce at certain supermarkets, I find that the directly purchased produce are fresher.

When we have a fridge full of ingredients, I make a big pot of comforting chap chye soup. It’s a one-pot Nyonya-style dish that we cook often at home. It is the easiest way to use up many different plants at once which may not work together in other dishes. Chap chye, in Hokkien, means mixed vegetables/ingredients. That’s why economic rice is also known as “chap chye fan” – mixed vegetables rice.

My recipe here will be different from the traditional dish. It’s a versatile recipe that works with various ingredients. Adding carbs like noodles or potato can turn it into a filling one-pot meal.

Chap chye style mixed veggies soup (serves 1)

Soup base:

• 1 dried bean stick, soaked till soft
• 5-6 dried lilly buds, soaked till soft
• 3-4 black fungus, soaked till soft and expanded
• 1 bunch of mung bean vermicelli, soaked till soft
• Shiitake mushrooms, soaked till soft and expanded. (I didn’t have any so I used straw mushrooms with kelp buds for flavour.)
• 0.5 cm ginger
• 1 garlic clove (sub with more ginger for pungent roots-free version)
• 1.5 cups stock/water
• 1/2 tbsp of 2-3 types of any fermented bean pastes (I used black bean paste, miso and spicy beancurd)

Other ingredients from Quanfa that I used:

• 1 tomato, diced
• Handful of spinach leaves
• Handful of sunflower seed sprouts
• 1 potato, diced

Optional garnishes:

• sliced chilli
• white pepper
• sesame oil

Steps:

• In a pot, sauté the garlic and ginger in oil for 1 min or till fragrant.
• Add tomato, bean pastes and fry for 1 min.
• Add potato, mushroom, black fungus, lilly buds, beancurd sticks. Stir fry for 2 mins then add enough stock/water to cover.
• Simmer for 5-10 mins or until potatoes softened.
• Add in spinach and sunflower sprouts, mix till they shrink. Remove from heat. Add garnishes if desired and serve hot.

You can purchase Quanfa’s produce online, visit their farm directly, or in these locations. I greatly encourage everyone to support local organic businesses as much as possible. They may have to go after 2019 as the government is considering to redevelop their land. I pray that won’t happen, but do support while they are still here!