Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

1 T Peanut oil (or 4 C Chicken broth
- other vegetable oil) - (canned or homemade;
1 Garlic clove - I usually use canned)
1 t Ginger root 1 T Sherry, dry
- (about 2 slices) 3 T Red wine vinegar
1/2 C Pork loin (boneless), 1 T Cornstarch
- shredded 1/4 C Water
1 1/2 t Soy sauce or tamari 1 Tofu pad
1/2 C Bamboo shoots, - (a package generally
- shredded - contains 2 pads)
6 Shiitake mushrooms, 1/4 C Green onions
- dried 2 Eggs
10 Lily buds, dried 1 T Toasted sesame oil
- (also called 1 t Chili oil (or less)
- golden needles) 1/4 t White pepper
12 Tree ear fungus, dried Salt and more pepper
- (also called cloud ears)

Re-hydrate the dried ingredients (15 minutes: in lukewarm water for the
shiitakes, and in boiling water for the lily buds and tree ears). Heat the
chicken broth (if it's canned, prepare it).

Mince the garlic and ginger root and combine them. Shred the pork loin.
Shred the bamboo shoots. Combine the cornstarch and the water. Chop the
green onions. Lightly beat the eggs.

Heat oil in wok (medium), add the garlic and ginger, stirring 30 seconds.
Add the pork, cooking until it loses its pink color. Add the soy sauce,
cook for 1 minute more. Add bamboo shoots, shiitakes, lily buds, tree ear
fungi, stir quickly for 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth, sherry and
vinegar. Stir cornstarch/water mix one last time and add it to the soup.
Add the tofu and bring the soup to a boil.

Turn the heat to low, add the green onions. Add the beaten eggs in a slow
stream, stirring several times. Turn off the heat and add the sesame oil,
chili oil, white pepper. Season to taste and serve immediately.

NOTES:

* Szechuan hot and sour soup -- I have seldom been to a Chinese restaurant
without having hot and sour soup, and it was pleasant to discover how easy
it is to make it at home. We have fixed this by itself as a dinner for two
with enough left over for lunch. Particularly when we add extra meat and
vegetables, we find it a very hearty soup which is surprisingly easy to
make. Yield: Serves 4-6.

* Like many Chinese recipes, it takes longer to prepare the ingredients
than it does to cook the soup. As I understand it, hot and sour soup,
traditionally, is a Northern Chinese way of using leftovers. Therefore,
there are many, many variations possible, particularly in the dried
ingredients.
We never make it exactly the same way twice. I recommend using the
shiitakes at least; most any grocery store has them. You may find tree ears
and lily buds in an oriental food store.

: Difficulty: easy to moderate
: Time: about an hour
: Precision: no need to measure.

: Dave Bartley
: John Fluke Mfg Co., Everett, Washington USA
: {sun,allegra,uw-beaver,lbl-csam}!fluke!dbb

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