This recipe comes from the Joyce Chen Cook Book, with comments from yours truly.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup pork, shredded (pork tenderloin is best and easiest, and I like to use a little more, maybe ½ cup)
- 1 teaspoon dry sherry
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3½ cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ cup dried wood ears (also called cloud ears or black fungus)
- ¼ cup dried golden needle mushrooms (Enoki mushrooms
- ½ cup firm tofu, shredded or cubed (1 small cake)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon ground white or black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil for garnish
- 1 tablespoon minced green onion for garnish. I like a little more.
Mix the shredded pork with sherry and 1 teaspoon cornstarch (out of the 3 tablespoons). Soak wood ears and golden needles in separate bowls with boiling water (each about 2 cups). Cover and soak for 15 minutes. Snap off wood pieces from wood ears and hard stems from golden needles, if any. Cut golden needles in halves, and break the large pieces of wood ears into smaller pieces. Wash, drain, and squeeze out water. Use a couple of paper towels to protect your hands, and REALLY squeeze out the water because the extra liquid will dilute your soup. Then I like to chop the wood ears and golden needles into smaller pieces to make the soup easier to eat. Mix the remaining cornstarch (2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp) with ½ cup cold water. Put the vinegar and pepper into a large serving bowl. Put chicken broth/water or stock into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir in the mixed pork. After boiling for 1 minute, add wood ears and golden needles. Again boil for another minute. Add tofu. As soon as the soup is boiling again, stir in the well-stirred cornstarch mixture until soup thickens. Mix in beaten egg (the egg will “string” egg-drop style), and remove from heat immediately. Pour the soup in the serving bowl with the vinegar and pepper (no need to stir). Garnish with drizzled sesame seed oil and minced green onion. About 4 servings.
Most of these ingredients can be found at supermarkets these days, although when I first made this recipe in the 1960s, some items were much harder to track down. Fortunately we lived in Chicago, which has a vibrant Chinatown. The wood ears and golden needles are both varieties of Chinese mushroom. You can use any type of dried Chinese mushrooms in this recipe.
The Joyce Chen Cookbook was revolutionary in advancing Chinese cuisine in the U.S. My husband and I tried many of Joyce’s recipes and learned her techniques. We often visited Chinatown for ingredients and tools–my first wok, my first cleaver. In those days you couldn’t find them anywhere else.
