Americanized Chinese Hot-and-Sour Ginger Soup
Oct 30, 2017 21:53:07 GMT -6
Post by juliusgulius on Oct 30, 2017 21:53:07 GMT -6
Hello, forum folk... whose community I'm not a part of. I hope you don't mind my posting this here; I was looking for a place to leave a recipe for pals, where I could just link it to them for a quick share. I wasn't really up for using one of the major recipe sites.
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Here's a link to the original recipe I've doctored below. Simplifying it and replacing the harder-to-find ingredients, spares me a trip to a specialty Asian market (and saves time, money).
This soup is particularly awesome on a cold day. I'm going to focus on the skeleton of the soup; the extras added (meat, veggies, etc.) are up to you (I'll include suggestions).
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Americanized Chinese Hot-and-Sour Ginger Soup
Makes 6 -- 8 servings
Ingredients
Broth:
1/2 medium onion, diced (optional)
1 Tbs. butter (if using onion; otherwise, optional)
4 cups chicken broth (in whatever form you want; cheap cubes work fine for this recipe)
2 heaping Tbs. fresh grated ginger
Cornstarch mixture:
1/4 cup water (room temperature or cold; never hot)
1 1/2 Tbs. cornstarch
Vinegar mixture:
2 Tbs. red-wine vinegar
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt (that's for kosher/large-grained salt; if using normal table salt, make it only 1/2 tsp.)
Final step before extras:
1 heaping Tbs. peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp. white pepper (important that it's white pepper; this is where your heat comes from)
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp. coconut oil (optional)
splash of sake or red wine (optional)
Pick-and-choose extras, ALL OPTIONAL:
-Firm tofu, cubed (highly recommended)
-Chopped FRESH cilantro (highly recommended) Super cheap, only about a buck for a bunch. The difference between fresh and dried, is night and day. Don't add dried.
-cooked chicken, pork, beef, or seafood (yum; make sure it's cooked before you add it to the soup though)
-sliced watercrest (highly recommended) Canned is fine.
-garlic
-FRESH spinach (highly recommended) -- Don't bother with frozen or canned; I tried frozen once, and it ruined the soup.
-Dumplings, homemade or not (Trader Joe's has some awesome pork-and-cilantro frozen ones, btw; they only cost $3 for a box of them out here in FL)
-Any veggies you're in the mood for (broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, etc.). They can cook right in the soup, or you can grill them before adding them. Don't add too many; they'll water your soup down.
-A scrambled egg or two (not recommended at all; in my humble opinion, the egg flavor overpowers this soup for the worse, but to each is own) Slowly pour raw egg into hot soup while stirring. See edit at base of post.
- rice -- I've actually
never added rice, but I'm sure it would work just fine. Make sure to cook it seperately before adding it to the soup.
I haven't found any noodles I like with this soup yet; every time I've added them -- and I've tried a variety -- they just make the soup too starchy. Tofu always seems enough. Play around all you'd like though; you've been warned. See edit at base of post.
------------------------
Alrighty, here we go.
The main part of the recipe involves just adding those two mixtures to the hot broth. Then you add the final touches, and finally, whatever extras you want to drop in.
1) OPTIONAL -- Put your butter in a medium to large pot, add chopped onions and simmer until browned. This will take at least a half an hour and is the longest chunk of the recipe. You can skip this step entirely and the soup will come out just fine, but you'll miss out on the extra level of flavor. It doesn't take much monitoring; you just set your burner to its lowest setting, and stir the onions once every 10 minutes or so, until they're golden but not burned.
2) Add chicken broth to pot, along with grated ginger. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat, then return to a simmer (the lowest heat setting). Cover it if you wish, though you might want to turn off the heat for a bit if it starts to boil rapidly. Don't even think about using powdered ginger.
3) Make your cornstarch mixture. Add the cornstarch to the water, stir, set aside. You'll want to re-stir this before adding it to the soup, btw, as it'll settle. I've tried upping the amount of cornstarch to a full 2 Tbs. Don't do that. Trust me.
4) Make your vinegar mixture. Just stir together the vinegars, soy sauce, sugar, and salt, set aside. As noted in the list of ingredients, only use 1/2 tsp. of salt if it's normal table salt. For kosher, or any other large-grained salt, use a full teaspoon. I have an addiction to "pink Himalayan" salt, and because the grinder produces both large and fine granuals, I usually add 3/4 tsp. of it.
5) Time to combine! Bring your broth to a boil again, over medium-high heat. Quickly lower heat back to a simmer and stir in vinegar mixture. Stir it for about a minute, to make sure everything disolves.
6) Bring the broth to a boil once more, raising the heat again as necessary. Mix your starch mixture again, as it will have settled by now. Slowly pour your starch mixture into the soup while stirring, simultaneously lowering your heat setting back to a simmer. DO NOT STOP STIRRING. STIR THAT SOUP for a good 2 minutes, unless you want nasty little gelatinous starch dumplings. This essentially thickens the soup slightly. I've tried adding a bit more starch to the mixture, but it made the soup thicken too much.
7) Final touches, quick and easy. Put the peanut butter into a little bowl or measuring cup (I usually use whatever I had the starch mixture in), add a bit of the broth, and stir to blend. Add that back into the soup (the peanut butter will hardly be detectable flavor-wise, btw, if at all). Stir in the white pepper, sesame oil, and coconut oil (if you had it on hand). Add a splash of sake or red wine if so desired. Okay, important tips: Sesame oil is VERY strong. Be careful to not overdo it. You will regret adding more than two teaspoons total. I stick with the 1.5 tsp. measurement. Coconut oil is expensive and not necessary to the recipe, so feel free to skip the addition. It won't impact your soup too much, to go without it. SUPER IMPORTANT: The white pepper is where you're getting your heat from. It is very potent. You might try starting with just one teaspoon, then decide if you want to add another half-teaspoon. Adding a full two teaspoons is only for those who like things reeeeealllly spicy. If you add more than two teaspoons, I am not liable for your tongue shriveling up and falling out of your mouth.
8) The fun stuff! Add whatever meats/veggies/other you'd like! Veggies can cook right in the simmering soup, but make sure to pre-cook any meat you add. When I add meat, I usually cut it into thin strips, then stir fry it quickly in a bit of oil (olive, canola, vegetable, or coconut oil). Fresh cilantro is absolutely excellent in this soup. Again, it's super inexpensive, and can be found in the produce section of your grocery store. It's usually like a buck for a whole bouquet. Nibble a leaf before using it; something like 1/10 people experience a soap-like taste for whatever reason. I'm too lazy to google it right now, along with the proper statistic. Tofu is a total winner, as are dumplings. Again, if you add too many veggies, it'll water down your soup.
Aaaand, I think that's it! Sorry I took so long in getting back with this recipe. I had to make it again, measuring as I went, after my first notes were lost during the chaos of the storm.
There are some great health benefits to be found in the ginger, vinegars, coconut oil, and chicken broth. I just forget what they are.
Happy Halloween!
EDIT:
Copy-and-paste response from one of the people I typed this up for (she's an experienced, creative person both inside the kitchen and out), so I'm happy to have received these suggestions for the noodles:
Thanks juliusgulius ! Will give it a try. Just a couple comments on your notes. If you think egg is too overpowering, try egg whites only. As for the noodles. I would think a pho or vermicelli would go well. But cook them separately and rinse them in cold water. Place the drained, cool noodles in a bowl and heat them up by pouring your hot soup on top.
If you insist on one pot, soak the noodles in cold water for an hour, drain and then add to your hot soup. You don't even have to cook it. Just cover with the lid for a few minutes.
Thanks, LS! <3
------------
Here's a link to the original recipe I've doctored below. Simplifying it and replacing the harder-to-find ingredients, spares me a trip to a specialty Asian market (and saves time, money).
This soup is particularly awesome on a cold day. I'm going to focus on the skeleton of the soup; the extras added (meat, veggies, etc.) are up to you (I'll include suggestions).
------------
Americanized Chinese Hot-and-Sour Ginger Soup
Makes 6 -- 8 servings
Ingredients
Broth:
1/2 medium onion, diced (optional)
1 Tbs. butter (if using onion; otherwise, optional)
4 cups chicken broth (in whatever form you want; cheap cubes work fine for this recipe)
2 heaping Tbs. fresh grated ginger
Cornstarch mixture:
1/4 cup water (room temperature or cold; never hot)
1 1/2 Tbs. cornstarch
Vinegar mixture:
2 Tbs. red-wine vinegar
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt (that's for kosher/large-grained salt; if using normal table salt, make it only 1/2 tsp.)
Final step before extras:
1 heaping Tbs. peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp. white pepper (important that it's white pepper; this is where your heat comes from)
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp. coconut oil (optional)
splash of sake or red wine (optional)
Pick-and-choose extras, ALL OPTIONAL:
-Firm tofu, cubed (highly recommended)
-Chopped FRESH cilantro (highly recommended) Super cheap, only about a buck for a bunch. The difference between fresh and dried, is night and day. Don't add dried.
-cooked chicken, pork, beef, or seafood (yum; make sure it's cooked before you add it to the soup though)
-sliced watercrest (highly recommended) Canned is fine.
-garlic
-FRESH spinach (highly recommended) -- Don't bother with frozen or canned; I tried frozen once, and it ruined the soup.
-Dumplings, homemade or not (Trader Joe's has some awesome pork-and-cilantro frozen ones, btw; they only cost $3 for a box of them out here in FL)
-Any veggies you're in the mood for (broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, etc.). They can cook right in the soup, or you can grill them before adding them. Don't add too many; they'll water your soup down.
-A scrambled egg or two (not recommended at all; in my humble opinion, the egg flavor overpowers this soup for the worse, but to each is own) Slowly pour raw egg into hot soup while stirring. See edit at base of post.
- rice -- I've actually
never added rice, but I'm sure it would work just fine. Make sure to cook it seperately before adding it to the soup.
I haven't found any noodles I like with this soup yet; every time I've added them -- and I've tried a variety -- they just make the soup too starchy. Tofu always seems enough. Play around all you'd like though; you've been warned. See edit at base of post.
------------------------
Alrighty, here we go.
The main part of the recipe involves just adding those two mixtures to the hot broth. Then you add the final touches, and finally, whatever extras you want to drop in.
1) OPTIONAL -- Put your butter in a medium to large pot, add chopped onions and simmer until browned. This will take at least a half an hour and is the longest chunk of the recipe. You can skip this step entirely and the soup will come out just fine, but you'll miss out on the extra level of flavor. It doesn't take much monitoring; you just set your burner to its lowest setting, and stir the onions once every 10 minutes or so, until they're golden but not burned.
2) Add chicken broth to pot, along with grated ginger. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat, then return to a simmer (the lowest heat setting). Cover it if you wish, though you might want to turn off the heat for a bit if it starts to boil rapidly. Don't even think about using powdered ginger.
3) Make your cornstarch mixture. Add the cornstarch to the water, stir, set aside. You'll want to re-stir this before adding it to the soup, btw, as it'll settle. I've tried upping the amount of cornstarch to a full 2 Tbs. Don't do that. Trust me.
4) Make your vinegar mixture. Just stir together the vinegars, soy sauce, sugar, and salt, set aside. As noted in the list of ingredients, only use 1/2 tsp. of salt if it's normal table salt. For kosher, or any other large-grained salt, use a full teaspoon. I have an addiction to "pink Himalayan" salt, and because the grinder produces both large and fine granuals, I usually add 3/4 tsp. of it.
5) Time to combine! Bring your broth to a boil again, over medium-high heat. Quickly lower heat back to a simmer and stir in vinegar mixture. Stir it for about a minute, to make sure everything disolves.
6) Bring the broth to a boil once more, raising the heat again as necessary. Mix your starch mixture again, as it will have settled by now. Slowly pour your starch mixture into the soup while stirring, simultaneously lowering your heat setting back to a simmer. DO NOT STOP STIRRING. STIR THAT SOUP for a good 2 minutes, unless you want nasty little gelatinous starch dumplings. This essentially thickens the soup slightly. I've tried adding a bit more starch to the mixture, but it made the soup thicken too much.
7) Final touches, quick and easy. Put the peanut butter into a little bowl or measuring cup (I usually use whatever I had the starch mixture in), add a bit of the broth, and stir to blend. Add that back into the soup (the peanut butter will hardly be detectable flavor-wise, btw, if at all). Stir in the white pepper, sesame oil, and coconut oil (if you had it on hand). Add a splash of sake or red wine if so desired. Okay, important tips: Sesame oil is VERY strong. Be careful to not overdo it. You will regret adding more than two teaspoons total. I stick with the 1.5 tsp. measurement. Coconut oil is expensive and not necessary to the recipe, so feel free to skip the addition. It won't impact your soup too much, to go without it. SUPER IMPORTANT: The white pepper is where you're getting your heat from. It is very potent. You might try starting with just one teaspoon, then decide if you want to add another half-teaspoon. Adding a full two teaspoons is only for those who like things reeeeealllly spicy. If you add more than two teaspoons, I am not liable for your tongue shriveling up and falling out of your mouth.
8) The fun stuff! Add whatever meats/veggies/other you'd like! Veggies can cook right in the simmering soup, but make sure to pre-cook any meat you add. When I add meat, I usually cut it into thin strips, then stir fry it quickly in a bit of oil (olive, canola, vegetable, or coconut oil). Fresh cilantro is absolutely excellent in this soup. Again, it's super inexpensive, and can be found in the produce section of your grocery store. It's usually like a buck for a whole bouquet. Nibble a leaf before using it; something like 1/10 people experience a soap-like taste for whatever reason. I'm too lazy to google it right now, along with the proper statistic. Tofu is a total winner, as are dumplings. Again, if you add too many veggies, it'll water down your soup.
Aaaand, I think that's it! Sorry I took so long in getting back with this recipe. I had to make it again, measuring as I went, after my first notes were lost during the chaos of the storm.
There are some great health benefits to be found in the ginger, vinegars, coconut oil, and chicken broth. I just forget what they are.
Happy Halloween!
EDIT:
Copy-and-paste response from one of the people I typed this up for (she's an experienced, creative person both inside the kitchen and out), so I'm happy to have received these suggestions for the noodles:
Thanks juliusgulius ! Will give it a try. Just a couple comments on your notes. If you think egg is too overpowering, try egg whites only. As for the noodles. I would think a pho or vermicelli would go well. But cook them separately and rinse them in cold water. Place the drained, cool noodles in a bowl and heat them up by pouring your hot soup on top.
If you insist on one pot, soak the noodles in cold water for an hour, drain and then add to your hot soup. You don't even have to cook it. Just cover with the lid for a few minutes.
Thanks, LS! <3