Tomato Onion Pork Bone Soup (番茄洋葱排骨汤 Fan Qie Yang Cong Pai Gu Tang)

This tomato onion pork bone soup is another simple pork soup recipe that I make regularly using pork bone stock base. After being lightly sautéed, the tomatoes and onions release even more umami flavor, adding more depths and aroma into the already tasty pork soup.

My family especially likes to enjoy this soup right at the beginning of a meal as the acidic and sweet flavors from tomatoes and onions combined with the pork stock’s umami and savory flavors gives everyone’s appetite a big kick start.

I posted the recipe for pork bone stock in a previous post. In this recipe. I’m using half of the stock made from that recipe which is enough for 4 to 6 people. I usually have the stock handy, so it only takes about 35 minutes to make this soup with most of the cooking time being inactive.

Besides drinking it alone, you can also add noodles to make it a noodle soup. I also sometimes make a side dipping sauce for the pork bones using 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar (or balsamic vinegar), ¼ teaspoon light soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp sauce.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes¹

Active Time: 30 minutes¹

Total Time: 3 hours¹

Serving: 4 -6 people

Ingredients:

• 2-2 ½ quarts (8-10 cups) of pork bone stock along with 4 to 5 pieces of pork neck bones (see post about pork bone stock)
• 1 medium or 2 small tomatoes²
• 1 small onion
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• Pinch of kosher salt plus 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 green onion (green part only – optional)

Preparation:

1. Chop tomatoes into small wedges and onion into small pieces.

2. Heat the 1 teaspoon oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is getting hot, add the chopped onions. Gently stir and toss the chopped onions for a minute, then drizzle the pinch of kosher salt. Continue to gentle toss for a minute, then add the chopped tomato wedges and stir.

3. When juice starts coming out of the tomato wedges (about 1 minute), add the pork neck bones first, then the stock. Keep the heat at medium-high and close the lid.

4. When the soup begins to boil, turn the heat to low or medium-low to produce a low rolling boil.² Cover and let cook for about 20 – 30 minutes until soup has turned into a light golden color.

5. While waiting for the soup to finish, wash the green onion and chop the green part into tiny pieces.

6. Turn off the heat and add the 1 teaspoon of table salt (or 2 teaspoons of kosher salt) and chopped green onions. Stir to combine.

Enjoy!

Notes:

1. Includes preparation, active, and total time used to make pork bone stock. If using pre-made pork bone stock, it takes approximately 35 minutes total from start to finish.
2. Low rolling boil is one notch below boil, but much higher than simmer.