Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Mark made the most delicious soup yesterday. This will definitely be a regular on our meal plan. You have to be an adventurous cook to make this though. And by adventurous, I mean that you can't be the type of person who has to follow the recipe exactly because there was a little of improvising and adding a little bit more of this or that to get just the right flavor (it probably helps if you've had Hot and Sour soup as well). Otherwise, this soup is really very easy. You could easily adapt this to make it vegetarian. Below is the recipe (from allrecipes.com) we used. Our recommendations/changes are in red

Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

• 5 dried wood ear mushrooms
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 8 dried tiger lily buds---Don't worry about finding the right kind of mushrooms. we used fresh mushrooms so we skipped the soaking step. I found a variety package of mushrooms that had a mix of Bella, oyster, and something else. We put 2 packages in.
• 4 cups chicken stock We used 8 cups, Mark would like to use 10 cups next time
• 1/3 cup diced bamboo shoots--omitted these
• 1/3 cup lean ground pork--we used 2/3 lb but recommend leaving it out for next time
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce--doubled
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar--doubled
• 1 teaspoon salt--omitted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper--doubled
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar--doubled, used regular vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/2 (16 ounce) package firm tofu, cubed--used extra firm, cubed, with a drained weight of 8 oz and it was the perfect amount.
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion--make sure you don't add this til the end!
• We added sriracha to give this soup the "hot" element--other people recommended different kinds of chili sauces/pastes but sriracha is definitely a staple you should have in your house if you like cooking Asian food.
• Have a tasting spoon handy because we would add something and then decide to add more. It will taste like it's missing something until you add the sesame oil at the end.
• sprinkling some sesame seeds at the end would make a nice touch, we will do that next time

Directions

1. Soak the dried mushrooms and tiger lily buds in warm water for 20 minutes. After trimming off any tough stems, slice the mushrooms. With the fingers, shred the tiger lily stems.
2. Place the mushrooms, tiger lily buds, stock, bamboo shoots, and shredded pork into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in soy sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper, and vinegar. Combine cornstarch with 3 tablespoons water. Add a little of the hot soup to the cornstarch, and then return all to the pan. Heat to boiling, stirring. Add the bean curd, and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Just before serving, turn off the heat. Stir the egg in gradually. Mix in sesame oil. Sprinkle each serving with scallions.

P.S. I don't typically like mushrooms or tofu but this soup has the best flavor and the mushrooms and tofu really soak it up that I could not help but drain my entire bowl and then serve myself a healthy second serving :) Maren even loved it and Noah liked the squishy, white squares. Enjoy!