chinese hot & sour soup ingredients & recipe?

Hot and sour soup is reputed to be good for colds. To increase the health benefits, feel free to add 2 or 3 teaspoons of finely chopped ginger.

For a vegetarian version of Hot and Sour Soup, leave out the pork.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

•1 cake tofu (fresh, if possible)

•2 ounces pork tenderloin

•Marinade:

•1 teaspoon soy sauce

•1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

•1 teaspoon tapioca starch (or cornstarch)

•Other:

•1/2 cup bamboo shoots

•2 tablespoons black fungus (Wood Ear) or Cloud Ear fungus

•(or 3 - 4 Chinese dried black mushrooms or fresh mushrooms)

•1 small handful dried lily buds

•6 cups water (or 6 cups water and 1 cup Campbell's chicken broth)*

•1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

•1 teaspoon granulated sugar

•2 tablespoons soy sauce

•2 tablespoons red rice vinegar, white rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar

•1 teaspoon sesame oil

•1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water

•1 egg, beaten

•1 green onion, finely chopped

•White pepper to taste (no more than 1 tablespoon)

•Hot chili oil, to taste, optional

Preparation:

Hot and Sour Soup Directions:

Shred pork. Mix marinade ingredients and marinate pork for 20 minutes.

Cut tofu into small squares. Cut bamboo shoots into thin strips and then into fine slices. To reconstitute the fungus, soak in warm water for 20 minutes. Rinse, and cut into thin pieces. (If substituting Chinese dried mushrooms, soak to soften, then cut off the stems and cut into thin strips. If using fresh mushrooms, wipe clean with a damp cloth and slice.)

To reconstitute the dried lily buds, soak in hot water for 20 minutes or until softened. Cut off the hard ends.

Bring the water to a boil. When it is boiling, add the bamboo shoots, fungus or mushrooms, and the lily buds. Stir. Add the tofu. Bring back to a boil and add the marinated pork.

Stir in the salt, sugar, soy sauce and vinegar and sesame oil.

Test the broth and adjust the taste if desired. (If using chicken broth, you may want to add a bit more rice vinegar).

Mix the cornstarch and water. Slowly pour the cornstarch mixture into the soup, stirring while it is being added. Let the broth come back to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, remove the broth from the stove.

Slowly drop in the beaten egg, stirring in one direction at the same time. Add the green onion and the white pepper to taste. Drizzle with chili oil if desired. Serve hot.

(Hot and Sour Soup can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. When making the soup, leave out the tofu. When ready to serve, thaw, add the tofu and bring to boiling. When the soup is boiling, add the egg.)

*Adjust the ratio of water to chicken stock as desired.

Oh, and i think it's a wood ear mushroom you're talkin bout.

Hope this helped a little, i know it wasn't the best of answers....good luck!!

1

Hi Tara C, We have something in common,it is my favourite soup also. If made properly it can be very nutritious warming and filling. the mushrooms that you are thinking of will most likely be wood ear mushrooms. however they also use shiitake mushrooms - usually dried (these are the tiny ones in the soup) What you may be thinking of as the long slimy ones could possibly not be mushrooms at all but will be seaweed. This gives it a gelatinous quality and if it gets cold you will see that it becomes 'jellied'. There are many recipes,and it is normally made with a mixture of pork and chicken etc. So if you don't like the idea of pork or chicken stock you can use vegetable stock as a substitute. As with a lot of soups, you can add what you like as a variation as long as you stick to the basic ingredients to make the flavours recognisable then that is fine. In some restaurants they will use split baby sweetcorn and whatever vegetables to hand although I think that too many carrots make it too sweet. Incidentally this is about the only way that i can eat tofu. There are a couple of recipe / links below which I hope you will find useful. I wish you and yours a happy new year as well. All the best.Rab

http://appetiteforchina.com/recipes/chinese-hot-an...

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesesouprecipes...

EASY HOT AND SOUR SOUP

4 cups chicken stock or broth (or 4 cups water and 4 chicken bouillon cubes)

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup cooked shredded chicken or pork

1/2 cup mushrooms, diced

1/2 tablespoon garlic chili sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup canned bamboo shoots, julienned

3 oz block of tofu, cut into 1/4 inch dice

2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water

1 egg, beaten

2 green onion stalks, diced (including tops)

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a 2-quart saucepan.

2. Add soy sauce, shredded meat, mushrooms and garlic red chili paste.

3. Simmer for five minutes.

4. Add white pepper, white vinegar, bamboo shoots, tofu.

5. Simmer for five minutes.

6. Combine two tablespoons of cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water in a cup. Stir until mixture is smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to soup and stir well.

7. Simmer for five minutes until soup is thickened.

8. Beat egg in a cup until yolk and white are combined. Pour beaten egg slowly, in a fine stream into soup. Stir soup several times.

9. Wait 30 seconds.

10. Add green onions and sesame oil to soup. Stir well. Remove from heat.

11. Serve hot.

I LOVE THE TASTE******

Did not read all the post first, so here is a sight for hot and sour soups.

http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm...

CHINESE HOT AND SOUR SOUP

□ 1/2 c. pork, sliced in thin strips

□ 4 tbsp. dried mushrooms, soaked and sliced in thin strips ( dried shitake mushrooms )

□ 3 tbsp. bamboo shoots, sliced in thin strips

□ 3 tbsp. diced ham

□ 2 c. boiling water

□ 3 c. chicken broth

□ 3 tbsp. shrimp

□ 2 tbsp. soy sauce

□ 2 tbsp. wine vinegar

□ 1/2 tsp. salt

□ 1/4 tsp. black pepper

□ 2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

□ 4 tbsp. water

□ 1 egg

Add pork, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and ham to boiling water. Heat 3 minutes. Skim off any impurities and continue to simmer for 1/2 hour. Add broth, shrimp and soy sauce and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Add vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix cornstarch with 4 tablespoons water, blend well. Add cornstarch mixture to pot. Beat the egg in a cup for 10 seconds. Add the egg to the pot in a stream along the prongs of a fork. Allow the egg a few seconds to harden. Stir well and serve.