Got szechuan vegetable in your kitchen? Why not cook soup with it? Szechuan vegetable which is preserved with chilli and salt imparts a distinct flavour when cooked in soup. The soup will be spicy hot and salty. When you add a couple of tomatoes into the soup, it’s be hot and sour. Definitely appetising especially when eaten with long bean rice or even cabbage rice.

Depending on how hot or salty you want your soup to end up, you can actually wash or even soak the preserved szechuan vegetable prior to cooking. I usually just wash the szechuan vegetable rather than soaking as I like the original taste of the preserved vegetable. My mum adds a couple of cloves of garlic for added taste but I don’t really fancy that. You can try it if you want.

This recipe is simple and not intimidating for first timers!

This is my recipe for Hot and Sour Szechuan Vegetable Soup.

Ingredients

• 1 piece szechuan vegetable larger than the size of an egg (washed and sliced)
• 3 - 4 large tomatoes (quartered)
• 50 to 100 grammes of minced pork or pork ribs or chicken parts
• 2 soup bowls or 600 ml of water

Method

Bring water to boil and add sliced szechuan vegetables and tomatoes. If you are using pork ribs or chicken parts, add them now. Simmer for 1 hour or more till water reduced to approximately 1 soup bowl.

If using minced pork, 3 minutes before intended serving, bring back to boil and add minced pork shaped into small balls.

Serve steaming hot.