[Sca-cooks] Beautiful Soup was Re: fried egg on spam

[Johnna Holloway]

On Dec 18, 2005, here's another winter recipe

Johnnae

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I make a reasonable approximation of what restaurants used to serve
20 years ago, back when hot-and-sour soup was good... let's see...

	1 quart chicken stock
	1 one-quarter-inch-thick slice of ginger, shredded and minced
	1/4 lb raw shredded pork, or small shrimp (I have a little leftover
pork-and-shrimp wonton filling and will make little meatballs)
	6-8 dried Chinese black mushrooms, soaked until soft and shredded,
reserve soaking liquid
	1 handful (~2 Tbs) cloud ear fungus (the little ones that are dark
on both sides), soaked, drained, and picked over for hard parts or
bits of twig
	1 handful (20 or 30) dried lily buds, soaked, drained, and hard stem
parts pinched off
	2 scallions, shredded
	1 or 2 eggs, beaten
	1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
	white pepper, ground
	1/2 cake bean curd, about 4-6 ounces, shredded
	2 or 3 dried red chiles, crumbled, or chili paste to taste
	~2-3 Tbs white, cider, malt or rice wine vinegar, or to taste
	1 Tbs light soy sauce
	1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Heat the chicken stock in a heavy saucepan with the mushroom shreds,
the ginger and the cloud ears and bring to a boil; add the lily buds.
While the stock heats, mix the pork shreds or shrimp with 1/2 tsp of
the cornstarch, a pinch of salt and a pinch of white pepper. Add
another pinch of white pepper to the stock.

In a small bowl (I use the bowl I'll end up eating the soup from),
mix the cornstarch and the soaking liquid from the black mushrooms
into a smooth slurry.

  When stock is boiling, add the pork or shrimp , stir to break up
clumps, then add the bean curd and reduce the heat to a very low
simmer. Add the chiles, stir, and let them steep in the soup for a
few minutes. Add the vinegar, then the cornstarch slurry, stirring
until the soup thickens slightly and returns to a low simmer.

Add the beaten eggs in a thin stream, a little at a time, stirring
periodically to break up large egg "flowers" as they rise to the top.
When eggs are all added and cooked by the hot soup, remove soup from
heat and add the light soy and the scallions.

Ladle into bowls with a few drops of the sesame oil in each bowl.

Sometimes I like to add a few freshly toasted peanuts as a garnish.

Enjoy!

Adamantius