{"id":8382,"date":"2010-03-31T15:15:58","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T19:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=8382"},"modified":"2021-02-24T16:23:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T21:23:15","slug":"hot-and-sour-asian-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/hot-and-sour-asian-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot and Sour Asian Soup (with wood ears, whatever those are)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to make a really good soup that seems like you shouldn’t be able to make it at home?<\/p>\n

Then this is your recipe, Veganomicon<\/em> is your book, and I am your man-boy.  Though the authors describe it as “totally inauthentic,” this is one of those soups like so many other Indian and other Asian dishes that have a way of captivating the taste buds and whisking you away to an enchanting foreign land.  (Disclaimer: Not really.)<\/p>\n

This soup was fantastic.  Hot and fantastic.  Since I don’t understand the alchemy that creates such wonderful flavors, I don’t have much else to say about it.  I will say three things, though:<\/p>\n

1.  It has tofu in it.<\/strong> If Nasoya<\/a> hadn’t sent me some coupons to try out their tofu for free, I probably would have left it out and made the soup as an appetizer instead of a meal.  As it was, I added some noodles to boost the carb count.  That turned out to be a grave mistake, since the noodles soaked up all the soup overnight and rendered my leftovers disgusting.  (As for the Nasoya, it tasted like—surprise!<\/em>—tofu.)<\/p>\n

2.  It’s really spicy, in a very good way.<\/strong> The recipe calls for chile oil, and the authors implore the reader not to cheap out and use regular hot sauce.  (I had to buy chile oil since I’d never used it, but now I’m hooked.  I’m substituting it for hot sauce on everything.)<\/p>\n

I actually used only half the amount called for and still found the soup spicy enough to warn Erin and her spicy-food aversion not to come near it.  Of course, it just occurred to me that I messed up and used white chili powder instead of white pepper when I made it, so that might have had something to do with the heat.<\/p>\n

3.  The recipe calls for dried wood ear mushrooms.<\/strong> Aside from sounding weird, these are hard to find: Not even my health food store had them.  I substituted shiitakes, as suggested in Veganomicon. <\/em>Since they weren’t dried, I went with 5 ounces instead of .5 ounces.<\/p>\n

Sad news: March is over, so this’ll be my last Veganomicon<\/em> recipe for while.  If you’ve enjoyed the recipes, you can use my Amazon affiliate link<\/a> to buy it, so I get paid and can pimp my ride and such.  Thanks to Isa and Terry of the Post Punk Kitchen<\/a> for letting me share some recipes with you!<\/p>\n

I will say nothing else to disturb this perfect, pristine (totally inauthentic) soup.  Until after the recipe.<\/p>\n

Hot and Sour Soup with Wood Ears and Napa Cabbage<\/h2>\n

From Veganomicon<\/em>, posted with permission<\/p>\n