Recipe for Cart Style Indo-Chinese Hot & Sour Soup
Recipe for Cart style Indo-Chinese Hot & Sour Soup
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Soup
- 4 Garlic cloves chopped fine
- 5gms Ginger chopped fine
- 2-3 Green chilies chopped fine
- 80gms Cabbage cut into thin julienne strip
- 1 small capsicum cut into thin julienne strips
- 3 Mushrooms Sliced
- 4-5 thin Spring Onions Chopped fine(keep the bulb and greens separate)
- 2 Tbspn White Vinegar
- 3 Tbspn Dark Soya Sauce
- ½ Tspn Sugar
- 1 Tbspn Chilly Sauce
- 1 Egg(beaten and kept aside)
- 200gms Chicken(Boiled with Salt & Shredded or cut into 1 inch pieces)
- 3 Cups Chicken Stock(You can use water as well if you don’t have stock)
- Slurry of 3 Tbspn CornFlour + 2 Tbspn Water
Ingredients or the Crispy Noodles
- 50gms Fine Noodles(You get two varieties: one for Hakka Noodles and the other which are a Little more Finer than Hakka Noodles. I prefer using the finer ones. You can use the ones that you use for hakka noodles too)
- 500ml Water(for boiling the noodles)
- 1 Tspn Salt
- 1 Tbspn Oil(to be added while boiling the noodles)
- 1 Tbspn Corn Flour(to dust the boiled noodles)
- Oil for Deep frying the noodles
Ingredients for the Chicken Stock
- 500 gms Chicken bones – 200g chicken +300g bones(the Wings,Neck, Ribs,etc.). The ratio doesn’t really matter here
- 1.5 Litre Water
- 2 Tspn Salt
Instructions
First we go ahead and make the Stock
- In a Vessel add the Chicken(with bones), water and salt
- Cover the vessel and keep it on medium high heat
- Once it begins to boil, keep the vessel open and let it boil until the chicken is cooked
- Once the Chicken is cooked, take it out from the stock and keep it separate so that it doesn’t further cook with the hot stock. Keep it aside
Follow these steps to make the Crispy Noodles
- In a vessel, add 500 ml water, salt and oil and place it on high heat
- Note:The fine Noodles cook faster than Hakka Noodles, so you will have to checkAfter about 7-8 minutes, stir the Noodles and check if they are cooked
- As soon as the Noodles are cooked, using a strainer, strain the Noodles and drain off the water
- Immediately transfer the Noodles into a wide plate so thatit doesn’t get further cooked with its own heat. Keep it aside to coolcompletely
- Once cooled completely, Add 1 tbspn of Cornflour to the Noodles
- Give it a gentle mix and you will notice that the noodles will get separated
- Using both hands, randomly break/tear the noodles
- Heat some oil on medium flame in a deep fry pan
- Once the oil turns hot, add the noodles into the panNote: Add just a Handful at a time, Do not fry all together or else they won’t have enough space to fry well and they will get stuck to eachother
- Once the oil stops bubbling, you will notice that the noodles have turned Golden brown. That’s a sign that the noodles are done
- Drain off all the excess oil and transfer the fried noodles into a plate and keep it aside to coolNote: Do Not cover the Hot fried noodles because it will turn softUseful Tip: Once the Noodles turn completely cool, you can store them in an airtight container, at room temperature for future use, just in case you do not wish to use all at once
Follow these Steps to make the Soup
- First, we go ahead and prep our ingredientsNote: It is EXTREMELY important for this recipe to prep your ingredients in advance because you will not have time to chop or get to the fridge in between. It is a quick recipe and Everything has to be done quickly in order to get the right flavours (writing out of experience of making a mess 😊)
- In a Wok, heat 2 Tbspn of Oil on High Flame Note: For any Chinese dish, the Heat has to be very High,only then will there be a burst of flavours
- Once the Oil turns Hot, throw in the chopped Chilies,Garlic and Ginger and mix well
- As soon as the Garlic starts turning brown, add the Capsicum, Spring Onion bulbs and Cabbage and toss it well for about 20-30 seconds. Yes! All on High Heat
- After 20-30 seconds, Add the 3 Cups of Water, Soya Sauce, Chilly Sauce, Vinegar,Sugar, Mushrooms and half of the Chopped Spring Onion Greens and mix well
- Hold the Beaten Egg bowl in one hand and a stirring spoon in the other and pour the Beaten Egg into the Soup while stirring the Soup in a circular motion, with the other handNote: This is how the Egg will be shredded into the soup.You can reduce the heat to medium here
- Mix the Cornflour Slurry and Pour it gently into the soup while continuously stirring the soup so that No lumps form
- Add the Shredded or Cut Chicken at this stage
- Let it boil for 10-15 seconds and turn off the flame
- Pour the Hot and Sour Soup into bowls, add some fried noodles, some more chicken and the remaining spring onion greens as a garnish and Enjoy your soup nice and Hot!Note: Most Restaurants serve only Manchow soup with Fried Noodles. But my Bitter Better Half & I absolutely love Fried Noodles with Hot & Sour Soup as well 😊
For Veg Hot & Sour Soup
- You can skip the Chicken and Eggs and use (All Raw) Carrots, Capsicum, Cabbage, French beans,Bean Sprouts, Mushrooms, Snow Peas and Red and Yellow Peppers all tossed on high flame
- Instead of Stock, you can use Water
- If you wish to use Vegetable stock, you can do so, but please DO NOT use the boiled vegetables from the stock for the Soup. It will ruin the entire taste
- All other steps and procedures remain the same