Chinese hot and sour soup recipe

How to Prepare / Make / Cook - ?Chinese hot and sour soup recipe

Mandarin pancakes, called bao bing in Chinese, one of the most popular foods in Peking, are the traditional accompaniment to Moo shi Pork (page 192) and Peking Duck. It takes a fair amount of handwork to make Mandarin pancakes, but we used to make them by hand in our restaurant all the time. Once a week the entire kitchen crew-chefs, sous chefs, choppers, everyone would congregate and roll out Mandarin pancakes on an assembly line. The dough was made in a huge commercial mixer, but the pancakes were formed one by one. It took all afternoon to make enough to last the week. The way to get them so thin is to roll two pancakes together. They come apart easily after being cooked because the sesame seed oil keeps them from fusing together. I would help separate the hot pancakes as they came off the griddle. The secret is to slap them between your hands, as if applauding, then find a loose spot and pull the pancakes apart with your fingers. After a while I had to exchange duties with the people rolling the pancakes because my fingers would get so hot!

With the high cost of labor and advent of pancake-making machines, restaurants eventually turned to frozen machine made pancakes from Chinatown. The packaged pancakes are very thin and quite excellent, but nothing will take the place of the memory of the sight, smell, and sound of everyone working together in the kitchen to make Mandarin pancakes.

1 ¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour
¾ cup boiling water
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

1. Mix the flour and boiling water in a bowl with a wooden spoon or chopsticks. As soon as your hands can tolerate the heat, knead the hot dough together until smooth. Knead for 3 minutes, then cover the dough, with a damp towel and set aside for at least 30 minutes. The Chinese say this “wakes” the dough.

2. Roll the dough on a lightly floured board under the palms of your hands into a rope exactly 12 inches long. Using a ruler as a guide, cut the rope into 1-inch pieces.

3. Turn a piece of dough on end and roll it between the palms of your hands into a cylinder. Flatten the cylinder with the palm of your hand into a circle. Continue until all are done.

4. Brush 1 side of each cake lightly with the sesame seed oil. Place 1 cake on top of another, oiled sides together, and flatten the 2 cakes out with the heel of your hand, pressing evenly to keep the pancakes from sliding apart.

5. With a rolling pin, roll the pairs of cakes to about 7 inches in diameter. Roll lightly and evenly to maintain a uniform thickness and even diameter of both pancakes. Rotate and turn over the pair of pancakes frequently, checking that the edges don’t get too thick and the center doesn’t get too thin. This will take some practice. Cover the pancakes with a dry cloth to keep them from drying out.

6. Fry each pair of pancakes in an ungreased heavy-bottomed skillet or on a griddle over medium-low heat until light brown spots appear. Less than 1 minute. Turn over to brown the other side for about 30 seconds. Check the heat frequently to be sure it doesn’t get too high or too low. Be careful not to overcook the pancakes or they will become brittle and crack.

7. Remove the pancakes and slap them a couple of times between your hands. This cools them a bit and forces any air bubbles out, creating an opening from which you can pull the pancakes apart. Pull them apart gently and slowly as soon as they are cooked. Once they cool, it’s difficult to separate them without tearing. Pile the separated pancakes with the exposed side up. Keep them covered with a dry cloth to keep the edges from drying.

8. Just before serving, reheat by steaming for 10 minutes, being, careful that they don’t touch the water. (Or reheat the Chinese home-style way. Place the pancakes on aluminum foil over simmering rice. The steam from the rice provides enough heat to warm the pancakes and the foil keeps them from sticking to the rice.) Serve the pancakes in a covered dish.

Note For longer storage, stack the cooked pancakes in a plastic bag, seal securely, and refrigerate or freeze. When ready to reheat, thaw the pancakes and steam.

Variation If you are planning to serve the pancakes with Peking Duck, make them smaller. Instead of one 12-inch rope, make two 12-inch ropes. You will have 2 dozen 5-inch pancakes.