Hot and Sour Soup
This recipe is adapted from Irene Kuo's "The Key to Chinese Cooking". It has long been my favorite Hot and Sour Soup recipe. I usually double this, because we usually serve it for around 8 to 10 people at our "Chinese Banquets".
Servings: 4 as a first course
Ingredients
Slippery-coating Ingredients:
- 1 tsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. dry sherry
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 2 tsp. sesame oil Asian style
Seasonings Ingredients:
- 1½ Tbsp. light soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. Chenkong cider, or red-wine vinegar
- ½ to 1 tsp. black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp. chili-pepper oil optional
Main Ingredients:
- ¼ lb. lean pork loin or butt
- 4 dried black Chinese Shiitake mushrooms, presoaked
- 1 Tbsp. dried mo-er wood ear mushrooms, presoaked
- 16 to 20 Golden Needles dried lily buds, presoaked
- ¼ cup shredded bamboo shoots
- 1 square fresh bean curd tofu (I use the extra firm)
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in
- 3 Tbsp. water and
- 1 Tbsp. sesame oil Asian style
- 1 egg beaten with
- 1 tsp. sesame oil Asian style
- 4 cups chicken or meat stock
- 2 tsp. fresh coriander cilantro, minced, or
- 1 small whole scallion finely chopped
Instructions
Preparations
- Cut the pork against the grain into ¼-inch thick slices; stack them, then shred them. Place them in a bowl; add the slippery-coating ingredients in the order listed. Let sit in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Place the black mushrooms, the mo-er mushrooms, and Golden Needles in separate bowls. Pour about ½ cup hot water over each and let them soak for 30 minutes. When soft, rinse the black mushrooms briefly, squeeze dry very slightly, de-stem, and shred to about the same size as the meat. Rinse and shred the mo-er mushrooms the same way, discarding any hard ‘eyes’. Rinse and squeeze the Golden Needles lightly dry, sort them out into a bundle, cut off the knobby ends, then cut crosswise in two. Rinse and drain the shredded bamboo shoots; cut the bean curd into ¼-inch shreds about 2 inches long. All these preparations may be done hours in advance; cover and refrigerate. When ready to cook, dissolve the cornstarch and beat the egg in separate bowls. Measure the seasonings into the final serving bowl and set aside. All these preparations may be done hours in advance; cover and refrigerate
- When ready to cook, dissolve the cornstarch and beat the egg in separate bowls. Measure the seasonings into the final serving bowl and set aside.
Cooking the soup
- Bring the stock to a boil in a soup pot over high heat. Add the black Chinese mushrooms, the Golden Needles, and the bamboo shoots. Adjust heat to low and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Stir in the pork, raise heat, and when it boils again, add the bean curd and mo-er mushrooms. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for about 3 minutes. Give the cornstarch mixture a big stir and add to the soup slowly with one hand, as you stir with the other until it satiny smooth. Turn off heat. Pour the beaten egg over the surface in a wide circle; as it congeals into floating ribbons, stir gently a few times to break them into chiffony flakes.
- Pour the soup into the serving bowl that has the seasonings in it. Scatter the coriander (cilantro) or scallions on top, and stir the soup up from the bottom a few times at table before serving individual portions.