Hot Pepper Soup

Hulatang, or Hot Pepper Soup! It’s a classic soup from the Henan province, and was one of my first China-breakfast-loves. But in addition, the soup’s a great chance to teach you about a really cool Chinese technique: gluten washing.

INGREDIENTS

For the stock:

* Beef bone with marrow sliced open, 1kg
* Beef shin 500g
* Water, 4L
* Spices: ginger, smashed, ~1 inch; star anise 1; Sichuan peppercorns ¼ tsp; Fennel seed ¼ tsp

For the 13 spice:

* Sichuan peppercorns 5g
* Fennel seed 5g
* Star Anise 4 pieces
* Cinnamon 2g
* Clove 1g
* Tsaoko a.k.a. Chinese Black Cardamom 1g
* Sand ginger 1g
* Galangal 1g
* Baizhi a.k.a. Chinese Angelica 2g
* Dried Ginger 5g
* Nutmeg 1g
* Long pepper 3 pieces

For the Seitan:

* AP Flour 100g
* Salt, ½ tsp
* Water, 75g

For the soup:

* Boiled beef shin from the stock, ~40g of cooked beef
* Peanuts, 8g
* Dried Day Lily 8g
* Mu’er, wood ear mushrooms 8g
* Dried kelp 2g
* Glass noodles 8g
* Stock from above, 1L
* Seasoning: 13 Spice ½ tsp; Sichuan peppercorn powder ½ tsp; salt, ½ tbsp; chicken bouillon powder 1 tsp; MSG ¼ tsp; soy sauce 1 tsp; white pepper powder preferably freshly ground, 2 tsp
* Extracted starch from the Seitan washing to thicken: add a couple tablespoons at a time until thickened to your liking, ~1 cup
* To finish: Dark Chinese vinegar 1 tsp; toasted sesame oil ½ tsp; cilantro for garnish

PROCESS

*For the stock:*

1. Add the bone, water, and shin to a pot and bring up to a boil, and down to a simmer. Skim. Add the spices and cover. Cook for ~6 hours.
2. After 90 minutes time however, remove the beef shin. Slice up the 40g you’ll want for the soup, freeze the remainder.
3. After 6 hours, strain the stock. Set aside the 1L that we’ll be using for the soup – freeze the remainder.

*For the 13 Spice:*

Grind all the ingredients together, then pass through a fine mesh sieve. What’s still not ground enough goes back into the grinder for another round, then sift it all again.

*For the white pepper powder, if grinding yourself:*

Follow the same process as the 13 spice. However, for us we were only doing a small amount (~1/2 tbsp whole white peppercorn), so we opted for the mortar instead. Both are ok.

*For the seitan/starch:*

1. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly with a chopstick, and once combined let it sit for 20 minutes.
2. Come back, and fold the dough for 1-2 minutes, then rest again for 20 minutes. Repeat this process two more times.
3. Add one cup of water in with the dough, and fold it under the water. After 3-4 minutes of folding, the dough should be soft and the water milky. Strain out the liquid, reserving it for later. Add any gluten that was caught in the strainer back in with the dough. Add another cup of water and repeat, folding for 1-2 minutes under water. Strain, and reserve the second cup of water too.
4. Add a final cup of water and fold for a final 1-2 minutes. The water will likely not be very starchy at this stage, so just throw it away. Move the seitan to a separate bowl of cool water, and soak until you’re ready to use it.

*For the soup:*

1. Soak the peanuts (at least 4 hours, up to overnight), dried day lily (at least 4 hours, up to overnight), wood ear (at least 4 hours, up to overnight), kelp (at least 30 minutes, up to overnight), and glass noodles (at least 2 hours, up to overnight).
2. Chop the soaked day lily into 1 inch pieces, the wood ear into strips, the kelp into ~1/2cm strips (plus a couple chops in the other direction), the glass noodles into ~1.5 inch sections.
3. Bring the 1L of stock to a boil, then swap the flame to medium. Add the peanuts and cover. Cook for five minutes. Then add all the remaining add-ins, and cook those for another ~3 minutes. Add in the seitan by stretching it slightly an ‘snapping’ it into the soup. Cook for ~1 minute, or until the seitan is floating. Add the seasoning.
4. Thicken by slowly drizzling in the starch water from the Seitan – going a couple tablespoons at a time. Once thickened to your liking, add in the vinegar and the sesame oil.
5. Makes two servings.