Conference turris::cooks

Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

4 14 oz. cans of beef broth
1 lb. tofu (firm)
1 oz dried wood ears
20-30 dried tiger lillies
1 5 oz. can water chestnuts
1 5 oz. can bamboo shoots

3 Tbs. corn starch
1/2 cup water

3 Tbs. Sherry or cooking wine
2 Tbs. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. white pepper
2/3 cup cider vinegar

2 eggs

sesame oil
scallions

Preparation

Pour 4 cans beef broth into large pot and bring to a boil. Place 
dried wood ears and tiger lillies in a bowl. Pour 2 cups of the
hot broth over the wood ears and tiger lillies and cover. Put
this aside and let stand for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to low on
remaining broth. 

Rinse tofu off, then cut into small (1/4"X1/4"X1/2") pieces.
Cut Water Chestnuts into similarly small pieces. Mix the corn
starch and the water in one cup and the sherry, soy sauce, pepper,
and vinegar in another cup. Beat the 2 eggs in a bowl until they
are well-mixed.

When the 25 minutes are up, pour the liquid which the wood ears and 
tiger lillies were soaking in back into the pot. rinse the wood ears 
and tiger lillies under running water for a few seconds, then add them 
to the broth. Add the tofu, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and corn-
starch mixture. Cover the pot, bring to a SLOW boil and let stand for 10
minutes. Add Vinegar-soy sauce-pepper-sherry mixture and let stand
for another 20 minutes. Watch that it doesen't boil over. 

Remove the cover and SLOWLY pour the egg into the pot, stirring the 
mixture constantly. After about a minute, the soup will be ready.

Serve with a few drops of sesame oil and chopped scallions. 

To make less hot, reduce pepper. To make less sour, reduce vinegar.

Enjoy!

                                   -Dave Clark

Do the wood ears go into the pot whole or do you cut them into smaller
pieces?

Jeannie

re .1:

It depends on the wood ears. I've bought some that were 1" in diameter
when they were dry; these got really huge when they were wet. The solution
I found was to crush them up before I wet them. Lately, I've been buying
wood ears at Joyce Chen's in Acton; they come in 1-oz. or 4-oz. bags
and are generally about as big as a dime when they are dry. They expand
to a reasonable size. The only problem I've found with them is that they
sometimes have a bit of dirt or bark attached to them; hence, the rinsing
off.

                       -Dave Clark

Where do you get the tiger lilies for this soup?  Seems to me I have a
recipe for hot&sour soup at home somewhere - I'll dig it out to see how
it compares to yours.  By wood ears I presume you are talking about
Chinese Black dried mushrooms - when I have had this soup out, they were
always sliced.

Rick

re .3:

I get tiger lillies at Joyce Chen's ("the one-stop place for ALL
your oriental cooking needs"). If you're not fortnate enough to
live in the Acton area, try looking in the phone book for an
oriental supply or grocery store. Tiger lillies are pretty standard
things to have in stock.

                  -Dave

Bamboo shoots cut into thin shreds are also a common ingredient.  I prefer
to use them in place of the water chestnuts.

I deal with the tiger lillies by cutting off the stem parts (which tend to
be too stringy and chewey, no matter how long you soak them), then slicing
the bud part in half.  This produces pieces that are about the right size.

I recommend making sure you use an oriental rice vinegar with Hot & Sour Soup.
Standard cider vinegar comes out too harsh (and it's not as flavorful).  One
could cut the cider vinegar with water before using it, I suppose.

--PSW

    Peking Hot and Sour Soup:
    
    1/2 C. lean pork
    1/2 pound bean curd (tofu)
    4 dried Chinese mushrrooms
    1/3 cup bamboo shoots, shredded
    1 egg, lightly beaten
    1 t. sesame oil
    4 cups chicken broth
    
    2 T. cornstarch dissolved in 4 T. water
    
    Seasoning Sauce:
      2 T. red-wine vinegar or cider vinegar
      1 T. soy sauce
    1/4 t. salt
    1/4 to 1/2 t. freshly gound pepper
    
    Optional:  1-2 red hot peppers (to be removed later)
    
    Take the bean curd out of the water and let it drain for 1/2 hour.
    Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 1/2 hour.  Squeeze dry
    and remove stems.  Cut mushroom caps into thin strips.  Cut pork
    across the grain in 1/4 inch thick slices and then in 1/8 inch wide
    strips.  Cut the bean curd into strips same size as the pork strips.
    Beat the egg lightly with 1 t. sesame oil.  Mix cornstarch and water
    until well blended.  Mix the seasoning sauce in a bowl.
    
    Bring the broth to a boil, add pork and mushrooms, stir gently to
    separate the pork strips, bring a boil again, reduce heat and simmer
    for 8 minutes.  Add the bamboo shoot shreds and bean curd and simmer
    another 4-5 minutes.  Add the seasoning sauce, stir gently.  Give
    the cornstarch mixture a big stir, and stir into the soup until
    it thickens.  Stir in the beaten egg and remove from heat when egg
    threads are almost firm.  Add 1 t. sesame oil and scallion and serve
    immediately.
    
    

    Egg Drop Soup:
    
    1 large egg
    1 t. vegetable oil
    4 cups chicken or meat broth, well seasoned
    1/8 t. sugar
    1/4 t. salt (omit salt if using canned broth)
    1 t. sesame oil
    4 t. cornstartch dissolved in 2 T. cold broth
    1 scallion, minced
    1 T. finely chopped chives
    
    Beat egg well but not till frothy.  Blend in the vegetable oil,
    mix well, and set aside.  Remove 2 T. of the cold stock and dissolve
    the cornstarch.  Add the sesame oil and mix well.  Set aside.
    
    Bring the broth to a simmer and stir in the sugar, salt, and stir.
    Turn the heat to the lowest point; give the cornstarch a big stir
    and pour it in slowly with your left hand while you stir the stock
    with your right hand, circularly, for about 30 sec, until broth
    is lightly thickened.  Turn off the heat.  Pour the beaten egg over
    the surface in a wide circle.  Stir gently a few times so that the
    soup is covered by daintly petals of chiffony eggs.  (yes, this
    is for real...) Stir in the scallions and remove from the heat.
     Pour soup into individual bowls.  Garnish with chives and serve.
    

    Take a regular soup broth (chicken or vegetable is OK, but
    if you can get kombu seaweed that's even better) and add
    some scallions, mushrooms (preferably Shiitake or other "wild"
    strain; the white kind is just too bland), ginger, wakame
    seaweed, garlic, tofu bits, or anything else you can think 
    of. Don't add too much stuff though. Boil together for a 
    few (10?) minutes, until the veggies are tender. Remove 
    from heat, and mix together a little bit of the broth with 
    the miso in equal portions, just like you'd dilute cornstarch 
    or arrowroot, then add this mixture back to the broth and mix 
    well. DO NOT BOIL THE MISO BROTH. Don't use too much miso, 
    maybe a teaspoon per cup or so. 
    
    There are several varieties of miso, the ones I've tried are:
    
     o Brown rice miso - has a very strong flavour, quite 
       salty, very dark brown colour. 
     o Hatcho miso - strong taste, not as salty as brown rice.
     o Shoyu miso - rather sweet, too bland for my taste, 
       light brown or tan in colour. 
    
    There's several more varieties, perhaps someone else can 
    recommend others.
    
    BTW, for the Mass dwellers among us, you can find all this 
    at Ichi Ban Oriental Foods on route 9 in Framingham, next 
    to the tropical fish place. I'm sure they'd be glad to 
    suggest other miso ideas too.
    
    ^E

Joyce Chen in Acton, Ma, and Amherst, NH, also carry miso, as well as most of 
the other ingredients described in .-1

I tried miso soup Japanese style, using dashi stock.  After reading how to 
make it (simmering seaweed and dried fish flakes) I decided to try the instant 
dashi that Joyce Chen had available.  In true penny pincher mode, I bought the 
package that gave the most mix per price.  It wasn't until I got home that I 
realized that I was now the proud owner of enough instant dashi to last a 
couple of lifetimes, or, alternately, to turn the Quabbin reservoir into the 
worlds largest outdoor soup bowl.

						     
							- JP

Overdue response...

but the thought of 'chicken-corn' soup drove me to the cookbook collection
only to come up empty-handed.  Certainly August in the Northeast is the
time for both chicken and corn -- and I am not referring to Bush's handling
of the Iraq-Kuwait crisis nor to Roseanne Barr's (mis)handling of the 
SSBanner in San Diego, althought the editorial temptation is resident.

Inny-hoo -- back to the topic at hand:  Bldg 19 -- an historical artifact
known well to New Englanders -- and the source of a goodly share of my
cookbook repertoire has a tome: *Great Chicken Dishes*, by Jane Novak (former
star of the silent screen), originally published for $8.95 (according to the
book jacket) but for the Bldg 19 price of $2.00, which has a recipe which,
I believe, comes close to what you have requested -- certainly with the
saffron, it's gotta be yellow!  Contained therein is:

                         Chicken-Corn Chowder
                         --------------------

"If you'd like to serve something quite unusual in the soup line, add
saffron to the pot while the chicken is cooking.  Even without the added
virtue of the saffron, however, this soup is excellent and very filling.

	4 pounds chicken, whole or parts
	1 medium onion, chopped
	1 celery heart, chopped
	4 quarts chicken stock (canned or see below)
	2 ten-ounce packages frozen whole-kernel corn (use fresh!!)
	1 four-ounce package Chinese noodles (not fried)
          Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
        1/8 aspoon saffron (author says 'optional' but don't skimp!)

"Bring the chicken, onion, celery, and stock to a slow boil in a large
soup kettle; cover, reduce the heat and simmer until vegetables and
chicken are tender.  Remove the chicken (or parts), bone it, and cut the
meat into bite-sized pieces.  Set aside.

"Add the corn, noodles, and seasonings to the broth, bring to a simmer
again, and cook, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.  Return chicken to pot
and continue simmering ONLY until the corn and noodles are cooked through.
Do not overcook."

Ms. Novak's recipe for chicken stock:

"	1 four- to five-pound stewing fowl, disjointed
	4 to 5 quarts water
	5 stalks celery, with leaves, cut up
	2 carrots, cut up
	1 onion, cut up
	1 bay leaf
	1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
	  Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

"Simmer the chicken in the water, partially covered, for at least 2 hours
before adding the vegetables and seasonings.  Continue simmering for at least
another hour, or until the chicken meat is almost falling off the bones.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.

"Allow the fowl to cool in its broth, then skin it, bone it, and refrigerate
the meat for another dish (salad, dip, croquettes or what you will).  Strain
the broth and chill it over ice cubes quickly so the fat will coagulate,
simplifying its removal, and discard (presuming discarding the fat, rather
than the broth -- ed.).  Pour the broth into ice-cube trays and freeze.  
(Makes 4 to 5 quarts)."

    we just made these last weekend.  what a treat they were!  they take a
    while to make up, but they are worth it.  we decided not to make the
    soup and opted to just fry them (couldn't wait!) and i'm glad because i
    preferred them that way after using 1/2 of the batch for pot stickers
    later.  but anyways... you need a filling for the wrappers.  we decided
    on chicken and seafood for health reasons.  the recipe went something
    like this:
    
    2T light soy sauce
    2 chopped scallions
    1T olive oil
    1/2t ginger
    3/4 cup finely shredded chinese cabbage (squeezed dry)
    1T white wine
    3/4 cup seafood or chicken, finely shredded
    2 cloves garlic chopped
    white pepper to taste
    1/4 cup bamboo shoots chopped
    
    mix the ingredients together and put a teaspoon into wonton wrapper. 
    wet the sides of the wrapper and fold together at corners, sealing and
    making sure there is no air left.  fold the ends together at the top and
    squeeze shut.  most cookbooks will have an illustration of this.
    
    for the soup from what i remember its a chicken broth that you just
    boil the wontons in till done, bout 5 minutes i would think.  i will
    bring in the recipe with me tomorrow however and edit this version to
    exactely what it should be.  hope this helps.
    
    cj
    
                                                   

    There is a good recipe for Won Ton Soup in Joyce Chen's book.  She also
    tells how to make a filling and stuff the wrappers.
    
    She shows how to fold them to make them look like a nurse's cap.  I
    think the previous note was describing a Peking Ravioli type wrap.
    
    They do take time but are very good.  Also you can deep fry them and
    use them as an appetizer.  The freeze well so you could use some in
    soup and some as appetizers.
    
    Mary Lou

Well, it's all really very simple..

To make the filling, put the following into a bowl and mix well.. I never 
measure, so the weights are approximate!

1 lb minced pork
0.5 lb prawns (preferably uncooked)
some crabmeat
some finely chopped pre-soaked "wooden ears"
very finely chopped spring onion
1 egg
some cornflour (about 2 level tablespoons)
some finely chopped pre-soaked chinese mushrooms 
salt and pepper 

This mixture should look quite wet.  This means that the mixture will now stick
to the wonton skin without needing to squeeze the skin.

Put some mixture into the centre of the skin (not too much or the mixture will 
come out of the skin during cooking).  Dip a finger into water and wet a corner
of the skin.  Bring the opposite corner of the skin to meet the wet corner.  
Lightly pinch the other two corners together.  On no account squeeze the wonton
or it will look terrible when cooked.

Bring a pot of water to the boil.  As you make the wontons, throw them into the 
boiling water.  Once they are cooked, they will float to the top, and you can
then fish them out.  Do not use this water again as it will now contain a lot of
the flour off the skins and also sometimes the yellow colouring.

If in doubt, do one first and check the result as you fish it out of the hot
water.  If the filling has come out, there is probably too much in it.

For the soup, either use a clear chicken soup or do the following:

Fry some onion and ikan bilis (dried fish, anchovies, I believe) until it smells
fragrant.  Then add a whole lot of water.  Simmer this and season to taste.  To
garnish, throw some chopped spring onions into the soup before serving.

Hope this helps.. it really doesn't take long to do once the soup is prepared.

Good luck!

Sen

Oops.. forgot 2 more things for the filling.. some sesame oil and light soya
sauce.

Think that's all!

	Rep .0


	You can make just about any soup into egg drop/flower simply
 	by bringing the soup to a boil and then add whipped egg. What
	I normally do is to whip 1 egg and about 1 TBsp of water and
	then add the mixture to the soup. If you want small thin pieces
	of egg then stir with a fork almost immediately or if you want
	larger pieces wait about 30 sec before stirring with a fork.

	Most egg drop/flower soups you see are simply chicken broth
	with a few sliced mushrooms, some chicken chucks and maybe
	some sliced water chestnuts with the egg flower.


	-mike

    To give it a little more of a Chinese flavor, also add 1/2 tsp of
    sesame oil.  While the egg helps thicken the soup, if you want it
    really thick and smooth, you'll need to add some diluted cornstarch.
    
    Another variation:  add a can of creamed corn.
    
    Another variation that my daughter loves is with the creamed corn plus
    some chopped chicken, in the smallest possible chunks.  I take a small
    piece of raw chicken breast and chop it fine in the food processor.
    
    With either variation, add the egg last -  just before serving.

    I have been looking for a recipe for that Thai Chicken Coconut Soup.
    This note is where is seems to belong, but I didn't see a recipe. 
    There was a note put in a while back by somebody looking for it too.
    Several pointers were given, but I still didn't find anything.
    
    ???
    
    Thanks.

Col. Philpott posted a whole bunch of Thai recipes way back when.  
DIR/TITLE=THAI should find them.  The particular dish you're looking 
for goes by the name Tom Ka Kai.

--PSW

>> Col. Philpott posted a whole bunch of Thai recipes way back when.  
>> DIR/TITLE=THAI should find them.  The particular dish you're looking 
>> for goes by the name Tom Ka Kai.

Try note 1700.*