Hot & Sour Soup

Okay, journal time. When Cal and I lived in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, we had a favorite restaurant, the Aloha. A Chinese restaurant. It was our date place. And it had excellent hot and sour soup, which we ordered every time. Once when we could not get out, we tried to make hot and sour soup from our little ranch bungalow in White Oak Holler, figuring enough to put vinegar and pepper together. We were surprised at how close we were in our culinary adventure. Not sure where or when I developed the recipe below, and not sure it is exact, which of course is the nice thing about soups. But here it is at Susan's request.

Bring 4--6 c. chicken broth to a boil.
Simmer a pork chop or two until done; remove and slice into strips
Slice into similar strips, or chunk, 1 package of silky tofu
Drain can of bamboo shoots
Hold ingredients aside until after soup has thickened.

Add to broth:
1/2 or 1 cup of soy sauce
1/3 or 1/2 c white vinegar (the SOUR part)(rice vinegar might work)
Lots of pepper to taste (the HOT part)
Then salt to taste if soy sauce wasn't enough
Bring to boil and thicken with a couple tablespoons of corn starch mixed with 1/4 c cold water.

Add pork, tofu, bamboo. Top with chopped green onion.

Susan, after you make this, you can make edits to this post if necessary.