East-West Mushroom Soup

Name: East-West Mushroom Soup
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon freshly ground five-pepper mixture or black pepper; ½ teaspoon freshly ground five-pepper mixture or black pepper; 1.2 litres (2 pints) Home-made Vegetable Stock; 3 tablespoons crème fraîche; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives, to garnish; 2 tablespoons (25 g/1 oz) unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic; 3 tablespoons finely chopped spring onions; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots; 2 teaspoons sugar; 2 teaspoons salt; 450 g (1 lb) button mushrooms; 50 g (2 oz) dried Chinese black mushrooms

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Ken Hom Travels with a Hot Wok

By Ken Hom

Published 1997

About

Mushrooms - from the East and West - unite here in a delectable soup. Simple to make, this soup can also be made up to the pureeing stage the day before as it reheats nicely. It makes a lovely starter or, served with bread and a light salad, a meal in itself. I use home-made vegetable stock, which makes this soup ideal for vegetarians.

Ingredients

50 g (2 oz) dried Chinese black mushrooms
450 g (

Starter
Soup
Vegetarian

Method

Soak the Chinese mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Drain them and squeeze out the excess liquid. Remove and discard the stems and finely shred the caps into thin strips. Wash and slice the button mushrooms.

Heat a wok or large frying-pan, with the butter and olive oil, over a high heat, until it is hot. Add the garlic and spring onions, onion and shallots and stir-fry for 3 minute