Hot And Sour Soup

• 50g chicken breast
• 20g tofu slice
• 10g sliced carrot
• 1 tbsp Szechuan preserved vegetable
• 10g canned bamboo shoot slice
• A handful of dried Chinese black fungus, soaked
• 4 dried Chinese black mushrooms, soaked
• 1 litre chicken, pork or vegetable stock
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp potato starch (or cornstarch), mixed with 110ml water

Condiments

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (upgrade to School of Wok’s homemade garlic oil!)
• 1 tbsp hot broad bean paste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 3-4 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar

Garnish

• 1 tsp chilli oil (either homemade or Chiu Chow Chilli Oil)
• 2 tbsp thinly sliced spring onion
• 2 tbsp sliced fresh coriander

1. Place your dried fungus and black mushrooms in two separate bowls and cover with warm water. Leave them to one side to soak overnight - or at least 2 hours for the mushrooms and 20 minutes for the fungus - until they have softened and the fungus has expanded significantly.

2. Fill an empty wok almost a third of the way up with water, and bring it to a boil over a high heat. Add the bamboo shoot slices and keep them at a boil for approximately 3-4 minutes (this blanches the bamboo and therefore removes the ‘tinny’ smell that canned shoots often retain). Drain the contents of the wok and set the blanched bamboo to the side.

3. Once they have been fully soaked, return to your mushrooms and fungus. Remove both from their respective bowls of water before cutting out and discarding the stems from Chinese black mushrooms, as well as squeezing any excess liquid from the mushroom caps. Trim off any hard nubs from the black fungus and set both aside.

Finally, get chopping! Finely slice all of your chicken, tofu, vegetables and fungi to roughly the same size, about ¼-inch thick strips. If preferred, you can cube the tofu for a denser texture - it’s up to you!