More strong flavours

I've always loved hot and sour soup, even the really naff versions you get in cheap Chinese restaurants - it's something to do with the hit of peppery heat allied to the refreshingly sharp twang of vinegar, which I find a very appealing combination. It's exactly the kind of dish I like to come home to on a cold, snowy April day (how unseasonal is this snow?) So I was thrilled to discover a recipe for the stuff in Fuchsia Dunlop's wonderful book, Sichuan Cookery. Over the years, I've adapted her recipe to suit my own tastes, so the version below is mine, not hers – including all the inaccuracies and inauthentic touches. You'll find some of the more exotic ingredients in your local Asian supermarket.

Enough Hot and Sour Soup for five main-meal portions

a good handful of dried wood-ear fungus
350-400g pork loin, cut into matchstick strips (marinaded with 2 tsp Shaoxing wine, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tsp potato starch and 2 tbsp water)
250g tinned bamboo shoots, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
a thumb of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchstick strips
1 small green or red chilli, sliced finely
200g shitake mushrooms, sliced
2 litres chicken stock
400g fresh beancurd, cubed
150g peas (frozen will do fine)
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
6 tbsp potato flour mixed with 100 ml water
salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
150g prawns (I use small frozen prawns, which I defrost before I use them – it's certainly not worth going to the expense of buying fresh prawns, or large ones)

To serve:
8 spring onions, sliced
2 eggs, whisked up with 2 tsp sesame oil
6-8 tbsp black Chinese vinegar

Soak the wood-ear fungus in enough boiling water to cover. Leave for half an hour or so, then cut into strips.

Stir the marinade ingredients together, then mix thoroughly with the pork strips.

Blanch the bamboo shoots in boiling water, then refresh under a cold tap.

Heat the groundnut oil, then stir fry the ginger and chilli together for a few seconds. Add the shitake mushrooms and fry over a lowish heat for a few minutes, until the mushrooms start to cook.

Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, then stir in the beancurd, pork and peas. Add the Shaoxing wine, soy sauces and seasonings – use lots of black pepper to give the soup that peppery bite. Simmer for a few minutes, to let the flavours meld together.

Stir a spoonful of hot soup into the potato flour and water mixture, then tip the whole lot into the pot and stir. The soup should become thick and glossy, without becoming gluey.

Stir the prawns into the soup to heat them through (don't cook them too long, though, or they become rubbery and unappetising).

Meanwhile, divide the spring onions between the serving bowls.

At the last minute, use a fork to trace 'threads' of the egg and sesame oil mixture across the surface of the simmering soup (these will cook in the hot liquid).

Stir in just enough vinegar to give the soup the required twang, without making it overly sharp. Pour straight into the bowls without allowing the vinegar to cook (it seems to lose its sharpness if you do that) and serve.