Hunan Hot And Sour Soup Food

HOT AND SOUR SOUP

Steps:

• Put the wood ears in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes to reconstitute. Drain and rinse the wood ears; discard any hard clusters in the centers.
• Heat the oil in a wok or large pot over medium-high flame. Add the ginger, chili paste, wood ears, bamboo shoots, and pork; cook and stir for 1 minute to infuse the flavor. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl, pour it into the wok and toss everything together - it should smell really fragrant. Pour in the Chinese Chicken Stock, bring the soup to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tofu and cook for 3 minutes.
• Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and stir until smooth. Mix the slurry into the soup and continue to simmer until the soup thickens. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in 1 direction to get a current going, then stop stirring. Slowly pour in the beaten eggs in a steady stream and watch it spin around and feather in the broth (it should be cooked almost immediately.) Garnish the hot and sour soup with chopped green onions and cilantro before serving.
• Put the chicken in a large stockpot and place over medium heat. Toss in the green onions, garlic, ginger, onion, and peppercorns. Pour about 3 quarts of cold water into the pot to cover the chicken by 1-inch. Simmer gently for 1 hour, uncovered, skimming off the foam on the surface periodically.
• Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and pass the stock through a strainer lined with cheesecloth to remove the solids and excess fat. Cool the chicken stock to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator, or chill it down over ice first.
• Yield: About 2 quarts

HOT AND SOUR SOUP (BETTY FOO; HUNAN RESTAURANT)

Steps:

• Clean the dried day lilies, soak them in warm water for about 20 minutes.
• Cut off the hard, tough tip of the stem and then cut the day lilies in half lengthwise.
• Clean and soak the wood ear mushrooms in warm water for about 20 minutes, then cut into small pieces. To clean, just wipe with a damp cloth -- don't soak or wash!
• Bring the chicken broth to a boil and then add the pork (or vegetarian alternative -- see below), skimming the surface of any fat.
• Cook the pork for 3-4 minutes, until the broth comes to a boil again.
• Add the tofu, mushroom pieces, bamboo shoots, and day lilies.
• Let the pot return to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a low boil.
• Add the soy sauce, spices, vinegar, salt and sugar.
• Taste the soup, adjusting the vinegar (you may need to modify up or down by an ounce) for the "sour" and salt for balance.
• Mix the corn starch and water to create a paste for thickening.
• Add the corn starch mixture slowly, stirring constantly.
• Drizzle the beaten eggs in slowly while stirring, so that you get "strings" of egg.
• Turn off the heat.
• Presentation -- ladle the soup into bowls, then garnish with 1/2 tsp of scallion per bowl and a drizzle of sesame oil.
• Comments on ingredients & substitutions:.
• Dried lily pods and wood ears (also called "tree ears", "black fungus" or "Hu Bei") available in most oriental markets.
• Chicken stock -- use home made or a low sodium canned variety. For Vegetarians use a Vegetarian Chicken stock or a Vegetable Stock.
• Pork -- For kosher alternative, use shredded chicken or turkey; for vegetarian alternative, replace pork with a mix of fresh flavorful mushrooms, e.g., shiitake, oyster, or portobellos.
• Soy sauce -- Betty uses regular soy sauce -- if using a "lite soy" variety, you may have to adjust the amount of salt to taste.
• Vinegar -- the vinegar is the essence of the "sour" aspect of this soup, and distilled white vinegar gives you the strongest taste; rice vinegars, wine vinegars, apple cider vinegars, etc, will either be too dilute (not enough acidity) or add extraneous flavors.
• Garlic -- garlic powder is preferred in this recipe, but if you choose to use cloves, leave them whole, add them only to flavor the chicken broth and remove them before adding other ingredients.
• Sesame oil -- adds a shimmer and smoky flavor to the final product. Chinese sesame oil is typically from toasted seeds; Japanese is typically untoasted, so the flavor will be subtly different.

HUNAN HOT AND SOUR CHICKEN

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine cornstarch, sherry, salt and pepper. Add chicken and stir to coat, then stir in 1½ teaspoons of the oil and let stand for 15 minutes to marinate. Prepare cooking sauce by blending all ingredients in another bowl, set aside. Place a wok or wide frying pan over high heat. When pan is hot, add 2 tablespoons of the oil. When oil begins to heat, add garlic, ginger, and black beans. Stir once, then add chicken and stir-fry until chicken is opaque (about 3 minutes). Remove chicken from pan. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan. When oil is hot, add green pepper, carrot and bamboo shoots. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add water and stir-fry for 1½ minutes. Return chicken to pan. Stir cooking sauce, add to pan, and cook, stirring, until sauce bubbles and thickens. If you like food that produces watery eyes and a burning mouth, pass a little bowl of hot pepper and black bean sauce.

HUNAN HOT AND SOUR SOUP

Steps:

• Bring stock to a boil over medium-high heat in a 2 1/2- to 3-quart saucepan.
• Add garlic, ginger, black pepper, and tamari.
• Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute.
• Add mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, carrots, peas and meat.
• Stir and let simmer 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Stir in vinegar, mirin and cornstarch mixture.
• Continue cooking until soup is thickened, about 1 minute.
• Add chile paste/sauce to taste.
• Remove soup from heat.
• Slowly pour in beaten egg and stir.
• Garnish with green onions or cilantro and serve immediately.

HOT AND SOUR SOUP

Steps:

• Put the wood ear mushrooms in a bowl. Pour over boiling water and leave to soak for 20 minutes, then drain and slice into matchsticks. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp cold water to form a paste.
• Heat a wok or deep frying pan over a high heat and add the rapeseed oil. Once hot, add the ginger and chilli and stir for a few seconds, then add the whole tomatoes and toss for a few seconds more. Add the chinese leaves, carrot, daikon, bamboo shoots and bouillon powder, then pour over 1 litre water.
• Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes until the chinese leaves are translucent. Add the wood ear mushrooms and cook for 1 minute, then add the tamari/light soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil.
• Pour in the cornflour paste to thicken the sauce. Stir in the tofu and enoki mushrooms and cook for 1 minute, then add the spring onions and coriander stalks. Season with ground white pepper.
• Spoon into serving bowls and serve garnished with coriander leaves.

AUTHENTIC CHINESE HOT AND SOUR SOUP

Steps:

• Place the shiitake and wood ear mushrooms in a glass bowl and pour boiling water over them. Soak for 20 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the mushroom liquid, discard the rest. Squeeze the liquid from the mushrooms. Slice the shiitakes and chop the wood ear mushrooms.
• While the mushrooms are soaking, quickly rinse the dried day lilies and soak them in hot water for 20 minutes. Discard the liquid, squeezing any excess from the lilies, cut the hard tips off the bottoms, slice the lilies lengthwise and chop into 1 inch lengths.
• While the mushrooms and day lilies are soaking, place the pork in a small bowl and combine it with the ginger and teaspoon soy sauce. Set aside while you're preparing the other ingredients.
• Bring the chicken broth and the reserved cup of mushroom liquid to a boil in a stock pot. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chile oil, hot sauce (adding more according to desired level of heat), and pepper.
• Add the pork, stirring to prevent the pork from sticking together, the bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. Simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the day lilies and the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and simmer for another minute until slightly thickened. Add the tofu and simmer for another minute.
• Pour the egg mixture in a steady stream into the simmering soup, remove from heat, and let sit for 20 seconds to let set in fine strands. Stir gently.
• Add the sesame oil and green onions.