HOT AND SOUR SOUP

Szechuan hot and sour soup

I have seldom been to a Chinese restaurant without having hot and sour soup, and it was pleasant to discover how easy it is to make it at home. We have fixed this by itself as a dinner for two with enough left over for lunch. Particularly when we add extra meat and vegetables, we find it a very hearty soup which is surprisingly easy to make.

Ingredients

(Serves 4-6)

1 Tbsp peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
1 garlic clove
1 tsp ginger root (aboutr 2 slices)
1/2 cup boneless pork loin, shredded
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, shredded
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
10 dried lily buds (also called golden needles)
12 dried tree ear fungus (also called cloud ears)
4 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade; I usually use canned)
1 Tbsp dry sherry
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 tofu pad (a package generally contains 2 pads)
1/4 cup green onions
2 eggs
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4-1 tsp chili oil
1/4 tsp white pepper
salt and more pepper

Procedure

Rehydrate the dried ingredients (15 minutes: in lukewarm water for the shiitakes, and in boiling water for the lily buds and tree ears). Heat the chicken broth (if it's canned, prepare it).
Mince the garlic and ginger root and combine them. Shred the pork loin. Shred the bamboo shoots. Combine the cornstarch and the water. Chop the green onions. Lightly beat the eggs.
Heat oil in wok (medium), add the garlic and ginger, stirring 30 seconds.
Add the pork, cooking until it loses its pink color.
Add the soy sauce, cook for 1 minute more.
Add bamboo shoots, shiitakes, lily buds, tree ear fungi, stir quickly for 1 minute.
Stir in chicken broth, sherry, and vinegar.
Stir cornstarch/water mix one last time and add it to the soup.
Add the tofu and bring the soup to a boil.
Turn the heat to low, add the green onions.
Add the beaten eggs in a slow stream, stirring several times.
Turn off the heat and add the sesame oil, chili oil, white pepper. Season to taste and serve immediately.

Notes

Like many Chinese recipes, it takes longer to prepare the ingredients than it does to cook the soup. As I understand it, hot and sour soup, traditionally, is a Northern Chinese way of using leftovers. Therefore, there are many, many variations possible, particularly in the dried ingredients. We never make it exactly the same way twice. I recommend using the shiitakes at least; most any grocery store has them. You may find tree ears and lily buds in an oriental food store.

Rating

Difficulty: easy to moderate
Time: about an hour
Precision: no need to measure.

Contributor

 
Dave Bartley  
John Fluke Mfg Co., Everett, Washington USA 
{sun,allegra,uw-beaver,lbl-csam}!fluke!dbb

Recipe last modified: 4 Mar 86

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: dbb@fluke (Dave Bartley)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: hot and sour soup
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Date: 8 Aug 86 05:11:06 GMT
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