Lao style stuffed cucumber soup

• 200g minced beef
• 1 whole peeled cucumber
• 1 small carrot
• 1 beef stock cube
• 1 teaspoon beef seasoning powder
• 2 1/2 cups water
• chopped spring onion and coriander (for garnishing)

Instructions

Step 1: Begin by peeling 1 whole cucumber, and then cutting off the ends. Then cut the cucumber into roughly 1 1/2 inch pieces. Now use a small knife to cut out the core of the cucumber pieces, so that you are left with hollow cucumber cylinders.

Step 2: Next peel 1 small carrot, then thinly slice 3/4 of it and finely chop the other 1/4 of the carrot.

Step 3: Now place the finely chopped carrot into a mixing bowl, along with 200g of minced beef and 1 teaspoon of beef flavoured meat seasoning powder. Mix everything together thoroughly.

Step 4: Then stuff the cucumber cylinders with the beef mixture as tightly as you can, smoothing down both ends with the back of a spoon. Make sure you have packed in as much beef mixture as you can into each piece of cucumber.

Step 5: Now its time to cook the soup. Pour 2 1/2 cups of water into a pot along with the 3/4 of a chopped carrot, and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, add in 1 beef stock cube, and stir until the stock cube has dissolved. Now lower the heat to a medium heat, and add in the stuffed cucumbers. Let the stuffed cucumbers cook in the soup for about 10 minutes. You can check to see if they are done by pricking them with a fork to test if the cucumber is too hard. Once they are cooked, pour the soup into a bowl and season with chopped spring onion and coriander, then serve and enjoy with some steamed jasmine rice!