pages

Apr 7, 2011

sweet and sour soup

Asian Night

Kate requested Hot and Sour Soup, but I wanted a spin on the stand-by favorite. I guess we were playing with words, but during menu making, someone must have said 'sweet and sour' instead of 'hot and sour.' Thinking, why not?, I made a 'Sweet and Sour Soup.' All the elements that make a great Hot and Sour Soup are in this dish, and so is the sweetness that makes a Sweet and Sour dish unique.

Instead of using vinegar to sour it, I used lime juice and tamarind. If you've ever had one of those big jars of tamarind in your fridge, I'm sure you have wondered what else besides Indian it can be used for. And although a little extra sugar at the end is fine in case the sweetness is not enough, I used crushed pineapples for the bulk of the sugar.

As for the heat, I used one Thai chili, just sliced in half not all the way through the stem, but not much else. My family, especially the kids, aren't as into spicy as I am. You may add as many Thai peppers as you like, however.

I used a well-pressed tofu (Tofu Xpress) so it doesn't fall to mush during cooking, mushrooms, broccolette, diced green beans and scallions.


Cost Breakdown

onion, garlic, lemongrass: $.75
mushroom, broccolletes: $3
tofu: $2
tamarind, tamari, lime: $.50
green beans, chili: $1
crushed pineapple: $1
Total to make 5 servings:
$8.25



4 comments:

  1. thank you!! looks delish, i will give it a go :) saw this on your flickr :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummy! This looks delicious and very filling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This, and the Hot and Sour recipe inspired me to make this soup with some variations due to what was on hand. (Which was way different than what I THOUGHT was on hand...)
    Awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow looks amazing. I’m going to try this tonight!!

    I just made an amazing vegan recipe too!

    I just started to blog so check it out!
    http://www.cloudsandclovers.com/?p=968

    Thanks,
    Rachel

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment! I'll check if it's spam and post if it is not. I appreciate your time and effort for commenting! ~ Zsu