Refreshing Cucumber Soup

In the West, cucumber is most often eaten raw or in salads. In Chinese cuisine, however, cucumbers enjoy higher status. Chinese chefs strive to maintain the cool crispness and varied green colours of this prosaic food. We love to eat it stir-fried, braised, pickled and even stuffed.

When cucumber is used in soup, as in this recipe, it keeps its refreshing cool crunch, which makes a nice contrast to the hot soup. The versatility of the wok is such that it can be used even to make thi