Feb
5
2010
Hearty Hot and Sour Soup
Author: kevin
My first experience of Hot & Sour soup was back in the day when I lived in San Francisco. My favorite restaurant was Yet Wah. There were several in The City and all were amazingly good.
When I made the move down to San Diego I was blown away that a new Yet Wah was built. Amazing design and the quality of the interior showed that no expense was too much for this new showcase. It was located down in the Sports Arena area and unfortunately for me and other quality Chinese foodies, it never caught on and went out of business.
I recently went to San Francisco to visit a friend and we went to a Yet Wah on Clement Street, unfortunately my memories were better then the food. I have added a few extra items to this soup to really make it a meal.
For the broth:
- 2 cans of chicken stock
- 5 dried red chili peppers
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp of cider vinegar
For the soup:
- 1 cup snow peas, ends cut off
- 4 green onions, sliced thin on the diagonal
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 small can sliced water chestnuts
- 8 large dried black forest mushrooms (from Asian market)
- 20-30 dried lily flowers
- 20 small cooked shrimp, tail removed
- 1/2 package of firm tofu, diced small
- 1 egg, whisked with a fork
- 4 chicken tenders, sliced into bite size pieces (optional)
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
In a bowl place dried mushrooms and lily flowers, cover with hot water to soak and rehydrate for 15 minutes. Drain, rinse and slice the mushrooms very thin lengthwise. Set both aside.
While the dried ingredients are soaking, add the chicken stock and dried red peppers to a cooking pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and add the soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar, cook for 10 minutes and remove the chili peppers.
Add to the pot the cornstarch and water mixture, stir to thicken. Next, while the broth is boiling slowly stir in the beaten egg and lightly stir the broth so it turns to egg threads. Lower the heat to medium, now add the remaining ingredients. Cook for 5 minutes and serve. I keep a chili oil on hand to spice it up more if needed.
