Several years ago, my friend Jess created a great soup at work. It was a huge hit and one I’ve made at home several times. Jess is a great cook and is also a personal chef and instructor. Creativity abounds!
I’ve been thinking about this soup for a couple of weeks, now, and the colder it got outside today, the more I knew I was making it tonight! While this is a great anytime soup, it is especially good on a cold night.
There’s no question that this is a good Chinese restaurant-quality soup. It is great as a side course or as the main course with spring rolls or pork buns.
I decided to make it our main course tonight, so I added a few more ingredients. It is perfect as originally written, but I wanted a bit more substance tonight. I had a few things lying about so into the pot they went.
I made enough for dinner tonight and leftovers for Victor’s lunch…
Sweet and Spicy Soup
- 1 1/2 qts chicken broth
- 1 btl Sweet Chili Sauce
- 1/4 cup black mushroom soy sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup rice wine
- 1/2 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 small can baby corn
- 1 small can water chestnuts, sliced
- 1 small can bamboo shoots, shredded
- 1 pkg pork shu mai
- 6 oz uncooked shrimp
- 4 scallions, shredded (for garnish)
In a medium saucepan, heat together the broth, chili sauce, soy sauces, rice wine, sambal oelek, sesame oil, baby corn, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. When it comes to a boil, add the shu mai and heat through. When the shu mai are heated, add the shrimp and cook just until done.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with shredded scallions.
I added the sambal oelek because the sweet chili sauce didn’t have the kick I remember and I definitely wanted a bit of a kick tonight. I heated up some spring rolls to go along with the soup.
It really was the perfect dish for a cold winter night.