Wensi Tofu Soup

Ingredients

• 1 block soft silken tofu, about 400g
• 1.2 litres clear chicken stock
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tbsp dried wood ear mushroom
• 60g cooked Jinhua ham or other dry-cured ham
• 60g cooked chicken breast
• 50g cooked bamboo shoot
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 3/4 tsp fine salt
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 tbsp potato starch mixed with 4 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• a few coriander leaves, to finish

Before you cook

• Soak the shiitake and wood ear mushrooms in warm water for thirty minutes, then drain and squeeze them dry.
• Slice the ham, chicken, bamboo shoot, shiitake and wood ear as thinly as you possibly can, then cut the slices into threads no thicker than the edge of a matchstick.
• Sit the tofu block on a chopping board and slice it horizontally into sheets less than 2mm thick, keeping the block standing in place.
• Turn the board ninety degrees and cut down through the sheets at the same fineness.
• Slide the whole cut block gently into a bowl of cold water so the threads separate on their own.

Steps

1. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a wide pan with the Shaoxing wine.
2. Add the ham, chicken, bamboo shoot, shiitake and wood ear threads and simmer for four minutes.
3. Season the broth with the salt and white pepper, then taste it; it should be clean and savoury, never heavy.
4. Stir the potato starch slurry and pour it into the broth in a thin stream, stirring constantly, until the soup thickens just enough to hold the threads in suspension.
5. Lift the tofu out of its water with a wide skimmer, letting the threads fall loose.
6. Slide the tofu into the pan and push it gently under the surface with the back of a ladle, without stirring.
7. Warm the soup through for one minute, never letting it boil, so the threads stay whole.
8. Ladle the soup into bowls, add a few drops of sesame oil and float the coriander leaves on top.