Recipe - Szechwan Hot And Sour Soup

6 Dried Cloud Ear mushrooms
6 Dried Chinese black mushroom
6 Dried tigerlily buds
4 One half cup Doublestrength chicken
broth
1 tablespoon Peanut oil
1 tablespoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
1/3 pound Lean boneless pork or
skinned boneless chicken
4 ounce Fresh bean curd; cut in thin
strips
One fourth cup Bamboo shoots; cut in thin
strips
2 Eggs; slightly beaten
2 tablespoon Chinese red rice vinegar
2 teaspoon Thinly cut or sliced up green
Onion; including some tops
2 teaspoon Sesame oil
1 teaspoon Freshly ground white pepper;
"Hot Hot Oil" (see recipe)
or chile oil
Sugar to taste; if desired

Pour boiling water over cloud ears, black mushrooms & tigerlily buds. Let
soak 15 minutes. Drain; cut off woody parts of mushrooms and hard tips of
buds, then slice very thinly. Set aside. Heat broth in a large saucepan.
Meanwhile, heat peanut & sesame oils in a wok or large skillet; when oil is
hot, sprinkle on soy sauce. Add pork or chicken and stirfry just a few
minutes or until crisp on edges. Add mushrooms and tigerlily buds and stir
to brown edges lightly. Then add meat and mushroom mixture to broth and
stir well; stir in bean curd and bamboo shoots. When soup comes to a gentle
simmer, pour in beaten eggs, stirring soup with a swirling motion. As soon
as eggs start to cook, remove soup from heat. Rinse 46 individual soup
bowls or 1 large serving bowl with hot water. Then mix vinegar, green
onion, 2 tsp sesame oil and white pepper, Hot Hot Oil or Chile Oil. Divide
mixture equally among individual bowls or place all in a large bowl. Taste
soup and adjust seasonings, adding more soy sauce or perhaps a pinch of
sugar if a less sour flavor is desired. Stir to mix the cloudlike shreds of
egg evenly, then pour into individual bowls or serving bowl. To eat, bring
soup spoon up from the bottom of the bowl to mix hot and sour flavors into
each bite. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

From the Hotter Than Hell!, by Jane Butel, ISBN 0895866463
(0895865424 paperback). Downloaded from Glen's MM Recipe Archive,
http://www.erols.com/hosey.