Chinese Hot & Sour Soup
photo by KateL
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 17
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 8 dried Chinese mushrooms, drained, stem removed and sliced thinly
- 1⁄2 lb shrimp, cooked, shelled and deveined
- 7 cups chicken broth
- 1⁄2 cup Chinese wine
- 4 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1⁄2 teaspoon chili sauce
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1⁄4 cup water
- 1⁄4 lb cooked ham, finely sliced
- 4 ounces water chestnuts, drained, sliced (optional)
- 1⁄2 red bell pepper, finely sliced (optional)
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 8 spring onions
- 1⁄2 lb bean curd, cubed (optional)
directions
- Combine chicken broth, wine and sauces in large pan until boiling.
- Stir in blended cornstarch and water slowly.
- Add mushrooms, ham, chestnuts and bell pepper to pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add vinegar and sesame oil to pot.
- Lightly beat egg and 1 tbsp of water. Add to soup while stirring constantly.
- Add spring onions, shrimps and beancurds. Simmer for 1 minute.
- Scoop into soup bowls and serve hot.
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Reviews
-
3 Stars, very good but mild soup, but it was not spicy nor sour enough to be a close replacement for the version sold in good Szechuan restaurants in the U.S. Please see my rating system, I reduce to 3 stars when I believe a recipe needs corrections or clarification. I think the "chili sauce" I used was not the ingredient Cook Food Mood intended; she probably meant garlic and red chile paste instead, or I needed to be mindful that Chinese chili sauce is much more potent than my usual Heinz 57 variety. I think this dish usually has julienned pork or ham as opposed to thinly sliced ham (which equates to deli sandwich slices in the U.S.). Oddly, at Whole Foods Market I could not find dried Chinese mushrooms, but I used 8 ounces of beautiful fresh oyster, baby portabella and shitake mushrooms, removing the stems. My soup looked like the restaurant dish, but it lacked the strong taste I usually get at a restaurant. I used a very good quality firm tofu, which worked fine, and DH said he could handle it (just as he does when he eats out!). I used rice salad vinegar because I thought that would be closer to oriental cooking; I did not think that apple cider vinegar was the intended taste. It may be possible that my rice salad vinegar was too diluted and I should have purchased Chinese rice vinegar. I used a regular sake for the Chinese wine. If Cook Food Mood revises or clarifies the ingredients, I would be happy to re-make this soup and re-review. Made for Fall 2008 Pick-a-Chef.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Cook Food Mood
Bloomington, 53
<p>Born and bred in Singapore but currently living and working in Shanghai. Loves travelling and cooking, especially if its for the ones i love! Truth be told, there are few I enjoy cooking for as much as my partner who never cease to shower me with compliments with whatever I lay on the table! The sweetest man whose best dish thus far is his self-concorted mango prawn salad he's absolutely proud of, except he's not telling! <br /> <br />Really glad I came across this webbie by chance! Used to love tearing random recipes off magazines, and has recently took up experimenting recipes myself, so this is a great place for me to compile and store my dog-earred, gravy-stained recipes! It is a happy find considering one of my favourite pastime includes browsing and drooling over cookbooks at bookstores! I love that everyone's sharing here and kudos to other contributors who are definitely making me look like a real chef!</p>