Two Hot and Sour Soups.

Now you’ve been to the Indian shop, it’s time to visit Lim’s on Cambridge St.

CHINESE
3 or 4 dried tree ear/ black fungus mushrooms. Boil.
(optional) 2 or 3 dried shiitake/ Chinese mushrooms. Soak. Remove stalks. Slice caps finely.
Once the fungus-boiling water has gone black, remove the fungus, which will now resemble a bat’s wing. You probably won’t want to eat all of them, unless particularly fond, but shred one finely.
Return mushrooms to the pan.
Add: A vegetable stock cube, soy sauce, vinegar and black pepper. Like, lots of pepper. About a dsp. Or more.
Mix a dsp. Or so of arrowroot with water, and add to soup to thicken.

In the bottom of each bowl, place a few julienned vegetables. Carrots - and peeled broccoli stalks are good too, a couple of sliced waterchstnuts and a few cubes of tofu (this is getting beyond a joke)- plain or smoked.

Beat an egg. Drizzle slowly into the soup, using a chopstick ton gently agitate. Your aiming for the egg to form threads, rather than clumps or being mixed in.

Pour soup into bowls. Top with chopped syboes and a few drops of sesame oil.

THAI
Make a stock with:
Vegetable stock cube
a couple of bruised lemon grass stalks
galangal. Dried or fresh,
about 3 or more dried chillies
kaffir lime leaves
Tamarind pulp (Great Stuff. Indian store, again. Dead cheap. It comes in blocks. You soak it a while in water, press through a sieve and discard the bulk. Rinse your sieve afterwards, because it corrodes metal).

Boil thirty minutes, then remove solids from stock.

In each bowl, place:
A few cubes of smoked tofu,
A decent few sprigs of watercress and fresh coriander,
some chopped syboes.
(Note: some people seem to confuse watercress with cress. I mean the stuff with big, dark leaves. Cress won’t do at all).

Pour on soup.
Top with some chopped coriander and a few thin slices of red chilli.