Chinese Minestrone soup

Being Cantonese we do like drinking soup with our meals. Soup can concentrate the nutrients stored inside the ingredients, which can sometimes help detoxify the body, or increase blood circulation.
Chinese Minestrone soup is really simple and can be whipped up with less than 20 min of preparation time. It is nutritious and helps you hydrate yourself after a long day.


Ingredients:
1 onion
1-2 tomato(es)
1 potato(es)
1-2 sticks of celery
1 carrot
As much pork as you like
some salt for seasoning


Even though I wrote down the quantities for most ingredients, this is really all just for reference. Just add more of whatever you like to eat, but just to note that :
     1. The onions, tomatoes, carrot and celery help to make the soup sweeter
     2. The pork helps to add flavour to the soup
     3. Good-tasting soup is a balance of the above contrasting elements. Some salt is required (but not too much) to bring out the flavour of the soup, if not it will end up bland.


Instructions:
1. When choosing pork, get the cut that has a bit of fat, so that the meat will be more tender after boiling. I personally like pork shoulder strips and find pork loin chops too tough. If possible, the presence of some bone will enhance the meaty flavour. 
    Fresh pork is usually red like blood (but don't choose extremely bloody meat, it means it's been badly handled). Dark red and yellowish-brown means it's starting to turn bad.
2. Cut the pork into medium sized pieces (around 5-10 cm long)
3. Chop the celery and carrot into small-sized pieces (around 2-3 cm), the tomato into 6 parts, and potato into chunks. I like to have my onion pieces big, so 2 cuts (1 along each axis), ie. into 4 parts, should do it.
4. Put everything into boiling water and simmer for 30-60 min, or until the pork is cooked, and the vegetables are soft to your liking.
   It might be a good idea to skim off the light-brown foam that floats atop the water, to remove the slight meat stench.
5. Add salt to season, and serve.


If you need more flavour while eating the meat, you can dip it in dark soy sauce and diced garlic or chili.