Monday, September 24, 2018

Rosie Makes Hot And Sour Soup.




With the temperatures changing, my thoughts turn to soups.
And I don't mean air temperatures.
I'm talking about the temperatures and color of the light.
It's fall light now.
And time for soup.


















Remember that vegetable pho stock I made not too long ago?
Well, I had a hankerin' for a hot and sour soup, so I pulled out a quart of my vegetable pho to use as the base.  Click on the above link for the recipe for the pho base.

 Rosie Note:  If you don't have pho broth, although you should, not that I'm making any judgments here, go ahead and use vegetable broth or chicken broth or beef broth.  It just won't have that certain je ne sais quoi.  And God knows, I want je ne sais quoi in my food.



Rosie's Hot and Sour Soup
1 TB oil

2 large mushrooms, sliced
1 handful dried mushrooms, prepared (Optional.  Use if you have them for more intense mushroom flavor.  Or you can just use more fresh mushrooms.)
2 1-inch cubes ginger, with juice
2 garlic cloves
2 TB sliced celery
2 TB  peeled and julienned carrot
2 TB chopped red pepper
2 TB chopped onion
1 quart vegetable pho broth
1 TB red wine vinegar

1 TB soy sauce
 1 tsp sesame oil
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB water
1 egg, beaten
Optional:  cubed and drained tofu.  About 1/2 cup.  To drain tofu, set it on an incline and place a weight on top.  Cast iron pan works fine.  Let it drain for at least 30 minutes.



To prepare dried mushrooms, pour boiling water over them.  Cover and let soak, until softened, for 30 minutes.  Drain, trim rough ends, then chop.

Heat oil.   Add in mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes.  Stir in ginger, garlic, carrot, pepper, and onion and sauté for a minute or two over medium heat.  Pour in vegetable pho broth, bring to a boil,  reduce heat, and bare-simmer it for 10 minutes.  Give it time for the flavors to meet and greet.

Stir in vinegar.

Mix cornstarch and water until dissolved and stir in beaten egg.  Slowly stream mixture into soup, gently stirring. Add in soy sauce and sesame oil.  If you wanted to to add in some cubed and drained tofu, now's the time to do it.  Heat through and serve.

Top with any of the following accoutrements.


chopped scallions
red pepper flakes
fried wonton strips
noodles

Fixin's for the soup:
onion
red pepper
carrot
celery
garlic
ginger

dried mushrooms, rehydrated
sliced mushrooms

Heat a film of oil in your pan, then add in the shrooms.

Add in the rest of the veggies.

And the vegetable pho broth.

I keep a few quarts frozen.

Cook some curly noodles.

And fry some wonton strips until golden.

Drain and salt.

 Question:  Why do the ChinaMacs down here always have STALE wonton strips?
It ain't that hard to get it right.

Add in cornstarch and egg mixture.

Gently stir.

And serve.

With noodles and scallions and red pepper flakes and fried wonton strips.

Enjoy!

Delightful!

No comments: