Hot and Stone Soup
March 2013

You've had hot and sour soup before...but have you ever made it?
This soup might have you buying ingredients you've never heard of - go with it.  You'll make it and then you'll make it again and again and again.

Ingredients

• 4 dried Chinese fungi (about 1 ounce), such as wood ears or cloud ears
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tablespoon sambal oelek (or similar red chili paste)
• 1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots, sliced
• 1/4 pound barbecued pork, shredded
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• Pinch sugar
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 square firm tofu, drained and sliced in 1/4-inch strips
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Chopped green onions and cilantro leaves, for garnish
• 1 tablespoon whole white peppercorns
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 bunches of green onions
• 1 onion
• 2 cups water

Begin by emptying all the chicken stock in your soup pot.  Add the stone, 2 cups of water, peppercorns, the onion (cut in half), green onions (all split down the center) and 3 of the ginger pieces.  Bring to a boil and then simmer while preparing below.

Put the wood ears in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes to reconstitute. Drain and rinse the wood ears; discard any hard clusters in the centers.

Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high flame. Add the ginger, chili paste, wood ears, bamboo shoots, and pork; cook and stir for 1 minute to infuse the flavor. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl, pour it into the wok and toss everything together - it should smell really fragrant.

Remove the stock from the heat and strain all solids (including the stone from the broth.  Add the stock directly to the wok, bring the soup to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tofu and cook for 3 minutes.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and stir until smooth. Mix the slurry into the soup and continue to simmer until the soup thickens. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in 1 direction to get a current going, then stop stirring. Slowly pour in the beaten eggs in a steady stream and watch it spin around and feather in the broth (it should be cooked almost immediately.) Garnish the hot and sour soup with chopped green onions and cilantro before serving.

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Stone Soup Recipe Archive

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Have a great recipe for Stone Soup you want to submit?  E-mail [email protected] with your recipe and something about you.  If we choose your recipe to post, we'll send you an e-mail link to the site.  Even if you don't have your own recipe we hope you invite your neighbors over tonight and try your very own batch of Stone Soup.