Really authentic Hot-and-Sour Soup uses Chinese mushrooms, but this
is mighty good with any variety-especially when you have a cold!
This is good served with a few finely sliced scallions on top (include some of
the green part) and a few drops of toasted sesame oil. Since I like my soup
hotter than my husband does, I use hot toasted sesame oil, rather than putting hot sauce in the whole batch.
INGREDIENTS :
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 1 piece of fresh ginger about the size of a walnut, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 pound lean pork (I use boneless loin.)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 cans (6 1/2 ounces each) mushrooms
- 1 cake (about 10 ounces) firm tofu
- 1 can (8 ounces) bamboo shoots
- 5 eggs
HOW TO MAKE HOT AND SOUR SOUP:
- Put the broth in a kettle and set it over medium heat. Add the ginger to the broth
and let it simmer for a few minutes. - While the broth simmers, slice the pork into small cubes or strips. (I like strips.) Stir
the soy sauce, pork, pepper, vinegar, and mushrooms (you don’t need to drain them)
into the broth. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the pork is done through. - Cut the tofu into small cubes. If you like, you can also cut the canned bamboo
shoots into thinner strips. (I like them better that way, but sometimes I don’t feel
like doing the extra work.) Stir the tofu and bamboo shoots into the soup, and let it
simmer another few minutes. Taste the soup; it won’t be very hot-spicy-hot, that
is, not temperature-hot-so if you like it hotter, add more pepper and some hot
sauce. If you like, you can also add a little extra vinegar. - Beat the eggs in a bowl, and then pour them in a thin stream over the surface of
the soup. Stir them in, and you’ll get a billion little shreds of cooked egg in your
soup. Who needs noodles?
Yield: 6 servings, each with 10 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a
total of 8 grams of usable carbs and 25 grams of protein.
