Cantonese Sour & Hot Soup - Ling Family Style

This soup is really straight forward to make and is a great way to use up whatever vegetables you have (or anything else that may be lying around in your fridge). I prefer this to the versions I get in restaurants, because I have full control over the flavours and ingredients. There are some specifically Chinese ingredients I use, but you can replace / leave them out at will if you can't find them. Note that the heat in the soup should come mostly from the white pepper.

Like any soup it's about the base stock. I used a stock I made from leftover frozen chicken carcass and bones, but you can use any base you like - cube, carton, vegetable bouillon, but I am careful about the salt content. I start with 1.5l of stock to make a pretty generous pot. I don't usually measure things for soups, but I have tried to provide some loose guidelines. In reality pretty much everything is down to your personal taste.

Soup Base:

- 1.5l good quality stock.

- 100-200ml white vinegar and / or Chinese black vinegar - to taste.

- 1 tbsp white pepper or to taste.

- red Thai bird's eye chilli peppers, 1 or 2 finely sliced to start off, add more to taste and up to you if you want the seeds - I leave them in.

- 3-4 pieces of ginger, around 2mm thick. Slice thinner if you prefer.

- white parts of 2 spring onions, thinly sliced (save the green parts for later)

- dark soy sauce for colour and some sweetness.

- 1-2 tbsp light soy sauce.

- 2 tsp sugar.

- 2 eggs, beaten.

Just put everything together except the eggs in a big pot! Bring to a gentle simmer.

The Rest:

Chinese ingredients (any or all optional)

- dried lily flowers ("golden needles").

- dried shiitake mushrooms (can replace with tinned straw mushrooms or any other mushrooms, fresh or otherwise).

- dried wood ear fungus.

- tinned bamboo shoots.

- firm fresh tofu sliced into 2cm cubes.

Rehydrate all the dried items in a bowl with hot water for about 20 minutes beforehand. The wood ears will expand 2-3 times from dry, as will the lily flowers. All or any of these items are optional. Save the water from rehydration and add some to the soup base for extra depth.

Other ingredients

- thinly sliced carrots.

- frozen peas.

- green parts of spring onions, sliced (for garnish).

- sesame oil.

- literally anything else you fancy.

Add the dried ingredients if using and simmer for 30 minutes. After 10 minutes add the carrots, and after 25 minutes add the peas. Thicken with corn flour or potato starch to get the consistency you want - restaurants generally serve this a bit thicker than I like. For this amount of liquid it's probably at least 2-3tbsp of corn flour mixed with water, less if using potato starch - do it in smaller stages if you prefer. Then dribble in the beaten eggs whilst stirring the soup slowly.

Take off the heat. Taste, add salt and additional pepper if needed. You may need to add more vinegar as some will have boiled off. Garnish with sliced green parts of the spring onions and a decent splash of sesame oil to taste.

You're good to go! The end result should be a thick soup, with loads of vegetables in every spoonful.