Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup

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The infamous 'Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup' is a bowl of pungent, peppery, hearty and glutinous soup predominantly crammed full of healthy vegetables and tofu but surprises the palate with its peppery kick & sour notes aftertastes. Do not be intimidated by the list of exhaustive ingredients as the main work here is cutting many of the ingredients into matchstick-sized slivers, then the hard work is done. I have also added a small amount of red skin peanuts in the recipe for crunch, which is not part of the authentic recipe. For a vegan- friendly dish, omit the pork and egg as it will taste just as delicious.


Prep time 20 mins  Cooking time 15 mins

INGREDIENTS:

35 g lean pork tenderloin, cut into matchstick strips

3 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated

Handful of golden needles, rehydrated and hard ends removed

Handful of cloud ear mushrooms, rehydrated

1/2 carrot

Tinned bamboo shoots

2.5cm ginger, grated

1 large vine tomato, cut into small quarters

2 eggs, beaten

1 silken tofu, cut into long strips

2 bird's eye chillies

2 spring onions, whites sliced diagonally and greens chopped for garnish

1 1/2 tsp ground white pepper

750 ml chicken/ vegetable stock

1 tsp sesame oil chopped coriander /cilantro leaves to garnish

3 Tbsps Chinkiang black vinegar

3 Tbsps red skin peanuts

SAUCE

1 1/2 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (optional)- if you like it darker-coloured

2 tsps corn flour dissolved in 30 mls water


METHOD:

1) Marinate the pork overnight with a dash of salt, sugar, sesame oil, ground white pepper, light soy sauce and cornstarch;

2) Cut all the vegetables into slivers (except tomato);

3) Prepare the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir well;

4) Heat 2 Tbsps of oil in a wok and add the bird's eye chillies.  Heat them gently on medium heat for 1 -2 minutes to flavour the oil, then remove the chillies;

5) Saute the grated ginger for 30 seconds, then add all the vegetables - carrots, mushrooms, golden needles, cloud ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots and red skin peanuts. Stir for a quick minute to soften the vegetables;

6) Add the marinated pork strips.  Stir to break it up from clumping until it is almost cooked;

7) Pour in the stock, then close the lid to bring it to a gentle boil;

8) When it starts to boil, add in the tofu, tomatoes, spring onion whites and ground white pepper. I added the ground white pepper in increments of half a teaspoon until I feel that it is the spiciness that I wanted (for me, it is 1 1/2 tsps which may also varies depending on the brand of ground white pepper that you used) so do feel free to add more if you prefer the soup to have more of a fiery kick;

9) Pour in the well-stirred sauce and wait till it comes to a boil again before pouring in the beaten egg in a stream, through the back of a fork. Adjust the seasonings by adding more salt if required;

10) Once it starts to boil again, take it off the heat and add in the sesame oil, black vinegar (adjust to how sharp you prefer the sour taste) and garnish with the chopped green spring onions & chopped coriander;

11) Serve while it is piping hot.

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