[CH] Hot & Sour Soup

Doug Irvine (dirvin@bc.sympatico.ca)
Thu, 17 Dec 1998 14:27:02 -0800

Deb, I think that I posted this before, but in case I didnt: First of
all, this soup originated like fried rice, as a way to use up left
overs, and has turned into a splendid dish, which can be a whole meal. I
have several different recipes that I check out first, before I start,
and come up with this....Doug's Hot & Sout soup
1    quart of chicken stock, home made is best
1/4 cup of cloud ears (wood fungus)
1/4 cup of golden needles(lily bud stamens)
1/3 lb of pork, sorta shredded, use any cut, small pork chop is good
1    tbls cornstarch mixed with 1 tsp dry sherry, marinate above pork in
this
2    tbls cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup of water
1    one lb block of firm tofu
2-4 tbls of rice wine vinegar, depends on how sour you want it
1    egg lightly beaten
1-2 habs, chopped finely, depends on how hot you want it...broken
record!!
sesame oil, green onions, light soy sauce, add these to your taste, with
the sesame oil being sprinkled on last.
Soak the cloud ears and the golden needles in hot water for at least
half an hour, until they have increased in size, remove from the water
and sqeeze the needles to remove excess water, cut these all in half.
Start soup by putting the stock in a large pot, and season with salt a a
little light soy sauce...get it to a light boil, and add the pork
shreds, cook for about a minute, add the cloud ears, needles and the
bean curd, cut into small pieces, or however size you wish, add the
chopped up habs, cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture
and stir to thicken,  lower the heat and add the vinegar, stir around
and taste, add more vinegar if necessary. Slowly stir in the egg, and
then add the green onions, 2-3 should do and sprinkle with the sesame
oil....serve immediately, and enjoy. I usually just serve this with Thai
rice.