Avital's Hot and Sour Soup

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Avital's Hot and Sour Soup

First, go and kill a chicken...

Lots of books have recipes but here's a pretty simple one.

Get yourself some soup stock (chicken, beef will work but pork (gasp!) seems to be most common in Chinese restaurants), flavoured with lots of garlic, bits of tofu and with Chinese veggies (chopped bok choy, sliced baby corn, Chinese dried mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, bits of bamboo shoots).

When it's ready and all the veggies are cooked, turn off the heat, beat an egg in a cup, then slowly pour the egg into the soup, stirring with a fork to break the egg up into threads.

Season liberally with lots of pepper (Szechuan, if you can get it), bit of rice vinegar (any vinegar will work, in a pinch, but don't overdo it; rice vinegar is fairly mild) and a dash of sesame oil.

When I go through a hot-and-sour soup craving, I'll make almost any kind of soup (OK, not gazpacho) and put in vinegar and pepper and an egg. Still tastes great.

Avital
(9/20/00)

Hooters (aka Texas Hooters)

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Hooters (aka Texas Hooters)
Everyone loves my hooters. Here's the recipe, given to me by Colleen S., paralegal par excellence, psychic, and former resident of the Great State of Texas (I think she lives in NC now). Everyone loved Colleen's Hooters. I lost touch with Colleen, but still remember her fondly. Now they are mine, I have spiced them up a bit more from the original.  They are a really great appetizer with hot salsa and the filling makes a great dip on its own.

Double or triple the recipe, you'll need:

6
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 (8-oz). package of hot jalapeno jack cheese, grated
1 chipotle chile* and 2 tbsp adobo sauce from the can of chipotles with adobo.

(*NOTE: chipotle chiles are smoked jalapenos that come canned in a very spicy sauce.  They are available at Latin American markets.  If you can't find them, use a few tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce)

Whiz the above, (EXCEPT for the flour tortillas!), around in a food processor to a coarse puree.

Spread filling not too thickly on a flour tortilla, roll up like a jellyroll, and put a dab of filling on each end.  Do this with all six tortillas.

Refrigerate about 1/2 hour to 1 hour, until firm. With a very sharp knife, slice into sushi like slices 1/2" thick. The end slices will not look as good as the others.  Eat these when no one is looking.  Chill until serving time.

Serve with salsa. Betcha can't eat just one.

Carolyn
(9/16/00, 12/18/01, and 9/7/03)

Lithuanian Dumplings (for chicken soup)

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Lithuanian Dumplings (for chicken soup)

The primary dumpling of my childhood may have been a variation on the matzo ball soup. This from my Lithuanian grandmother.

Chicken stock, chunks of onions, carrots, celery, maybe some parsley.

The dumplings: whole eggs and flour. That's it. Enough flour to make a sort of stiff pudding consistency, then dropped from a spoon into the simmering soup.

They can also be leaden or light, but somehow they never sink.

My own variations have been to add a bit of baking powder and half in half, if I'm in the mood for a more tender product. Or add some chopped parsley to the dumpling batter/dough rather than to the soup.

Mary
(9/10/00)

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