My favourite soup-- Hot & Sour Soup

Today, I would like to introduce and teach you guys how to make perfect Hot and Sour Soup.  This soup tastes both spicy and sour at the same time as the name. Hot and sour soup came from Sichuan of China. People who live in Sichuan need hot and spicy food to warm them up since the weather is chilly. However, this soup becomes common and popular in my hometown, Taiwan since it is easy and quite cheap. Besides, people usually have the ingredients of hot and sour soup in their refrigeration so we could make the soup effortlessly. Overall, that's why I like to make this soup and want to share with you guys.

Actually, there are various recipes about hot and sour soup. Some of them are made with pork, but I will be going over the vegetarian version today . 

Ingredient: 

                

                Ginger, julienne ----------------- 10  gram

                Carrot, julienne ------------------ 50  gram

                Dried mushroom----------------- 50  gram

                Enoki mushroom ---------------- 50  gram

                Chinese cabbage, julienne ----- 60  gram

                Soft tofu, slice ------------------- 40  gram

                Green onion, dice --------------- 0.5  sprigs 

                Large egg, lightly beaten ---------1

                Soy sauce -------------------------- 1  tablespoon

                White vinegar --------------------- 4  tablespoon

                Dried mushroom water ---------- 2  cup

                Vegetable oil -------------------- 1/4  cup

                Sesame oil ------------------------- 1  tablespoon

                Cornstarch ------------------------- 3  tablespoon

                Cold water ------------------------- 4  tablespoon

                White pepper ------------------- 1/2  teaspoon

                Salt --------------------------------- to taste 

                Water ------------------------------ 1000 ml

Direction: 

               1.  Place Dried Mushroom in cold water until soft. After that, cut it into slices. Leave dried 

                     mushroom water for  stock

               2.  Heat up a small stock pot with vegetable oil and sesame oil

               3.  Place ginger and carrots in the pot and stir evenly and until carrots are 70 % cooked

               4.  Add dried mushroom, cabbage, enoki mushroom and mix well

               5.  Pour dried mushroom and stock into the pot and wait for boil

               6.  Add soy sauce for colour, salt for taste

               7.  Mix cornstarch and cold water evenly. Pour it into the pot and stir regularly

               8.  Add tofu and slightly stir around 3 minutes then turn off the heat

               9.  Add egg, stirring gently. Turn on the heat after egg is cooked

             10.  Add white vinegar, white pepper for seasoning

             11.  Drizzling green onion on the top

 

The aroma of soup is a little bit sour and tangy. Visually it is colourful and looks yummy. What I noticed from the soup is the multi layers of taste, which includes spiciness, sourness and slight umami of mushroom. It is so palatable and satisfying. I really enjoyed the soup since it warms me up during the cool days. Besides, this soup has high nutrition containing diversified vegetable to increase in enterogastric peristalsis and tofu supply of protein, essential amino acids, iron, calcium and some vitamin. I would certainly share it with my friends because this soup is so wonderful and savoury. They all love it no matter Asian or Western. Asian are used to sour taste so they are happy with it since it is the type of food they usually grow up with.  People from the western world don’t necessarily incorporate this type of sourness into their cuisine; however, they do like it because it tastes very smooth and balanced although the taste could be quite complex.

It seems the soup is so perfect, but it is not actually excellent. How to cut tofu into equal sizes so it could be cooked evenly is a big challenge to me since tofu is really soft and it breaks easily. It probably will be improved if I use firm tofu next time. Another problem is the white vinegar; it gets its tang and it may be different depend on brand, ingredients and making methods. I learn how to control the heat when I pour the cornstarch mixture and balance  the flavours of all ingredients from this experience. I know I still need to accumulate my experience  for my future culinary technique and I also know I will grow  and obtain valuable knowledge from each experience. That will enable me to stand on vantage point and I could apply everything I  gained from every experiment to my cooking skills. Now, being a beginner, I need to learn step by step and pursue improvement in order to fulfill my culinary dreams. I also expect myself to be an outstanding chef who has the ability to create new and delicious dishes for everyone

Pickle--Green Bean

Pickling, the old generations used as a way to reserve food of out of season use such as in the winters. Nowadays, people don't need to pickle food for reserving; however, we still enjoy making pickles because of the resulting flavours. Pickles need time to process and could be made with different ingredients, such as salt and sugar, both of these have anti-oxidant efficacy that could prevent corrosive in food. We usually see pickled cabbages, pickled cucumbers, and pickled olives in markets. Actually, pickling food is not a difficult task. Therefore, I decided to give pickling green beans a try.

Ingredient (Ann, 2013):
                 Green beans ---------------1  pounds
                 Jalapeño peppers ---------2
                 Small sweet peppers -----3
                 Garlic -------------------------1  head
                 Vinegar -----------------------1 1/4  cups
                 Water -------------------------1 1/4  cups
                 Pickling salt -----------------2  tablespoons
Tools:
                 Jars with lids and rings-----2
                 Small stock pan--------------1

Direction:

                1. Prepare boiled water in stove and place jars, lids and rings into small stock pan for

                    sterilizing.

                2. Place all green beans, jalapeño peppers, sweet peppers, garlic in to sterilized jars with

                    lids and rings. Making all ingredient tightly.

                3. In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, water and pickling salt to a boil. Then pour the vinegar

                    mixture into beans in the jars until 80% full and top with lids and rings on.

                4. Prepare water bath around 185 F degree. Place whole jars into water bath     

                    around 30 minutes.

                5. Turn off the heat and leave jars in the water about 10 minutes.

                6. Remove the jars from water bath and let the jars cold until they seal. Keep the rings

                   on for 1 day and then take off rings before storing.

Finally, I could enjoy my own pickles! Different from when the beans were still fresh, they became dark green in colour instead of bright green. Although I could smell the sourness when opening the jars, it isn’t so strong that one couldn’t stand it. This isn’t exactly surprising because it was made with vinegar. What took me by surprise was the texture of the pickled beans; unlike how I first expected, they are pretty crispy and not soft, which I quite enjoy. Moreover, it was a little bit spicy when I took the first bite but sourness and saltiness are in large part of the taste.

Now I think I am able to create my own recipe with the green bean pickles I made.

My recipe:

                     Green bean pickles ---------5 

                     Tuna in water, canned -----1

                     Red onion -------------------2  tablespoon

                     Celery -----------------------1  medium stock 

                     Olive oil---------------------1  teaspoon

                     Lemon, peel and juice ----to  taste

                     Salt / Black pepper --------to  taste

                     Unsalted soda cracker ----10  pieces 

Direction:

                1. Chop green beans, red onion and celery into dice. Grind lemon peel. 
                2. Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. Serve with soda crackers.
 
                      

I felt so satisfied and content when the mixture of food filled up my mouth. The overall taste of finished product has multi-layers of taste including the tanginess combined with the sourness brought by the pickles and lemon juice, as well as the sweetness came from the tuna. Besides, adding diced celery and red onion to this pickle dish really increased crispiness. 

Pickles are good for adding more flavours into food. Apart from sourness and sweetness, it sometimes also adds in some savoury flavour to the dish. From pickling the raw vegetables to using it in an actual dish, I consider this to be a wonderful and successful experience. However, I think I will include other ingredients, such as hot chilli pepper, to my pickled vegetables since I was expected it to be spicier. 

I totally enjoyed the entire process and am happy with the final result. I also obtain some valuable knowledge and experience of pickling vegetables. As a result, I will definitely keep the recipes in my book and I will continue to explore more varieties to further perfect my creations.

 

Reference:

Ann. (2013, n.d.). Crisp & Spicy Pickled Green Beans. Retrieved
from http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/crisp-spicy-pickled-green-beans/