Hot & sour chicken & exotic mushroom soup

Taking 10 minutes to cook, this hot & sour chicken soup is the perfect winter warmer - just serve with warm bread rolls to soak up all the liquid!

Prep: 15 mins
Cooking: 10 mins
Serves: 4

What you need:

15ml/1tbsp groundnut oil
350g/12oz chicken breast fillets, sliced
2.5cm/1in piece root ginger, peeled and grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
100g/4oz shredded Chinese leaf
150g/5oz exotic mushrooms such as torn oyster, sliced shiitake, enoki
150g/5oz sliced chestnut mushrooms
1 (200g) can bamboo shoots, drained and finely sliced
750ml/11/4pt hot vegetable stock
30ml/2tbsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
30ml/2tbsp light soy sauce
15ml/1tbsp rice vinegar
45ml/3tbsp corn flour mixed with 60ml/4tbsp cold water
1 spring onion, sliced
1 small handful of coriander, roughly chopped

What you do:

Heat a large wok or pan over high heat, add the groundnut oil. Add the chicken and stir fry for 4-5 mins until pale golden. Add the ginger, garlic, and chilli and stir-fry for a few seconds.
Add the Chinese leaf and all the mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the bamboo shoots, hot stock, wine, soy, vinegar and cornflour mixture. Bring to the boil and simmer for a further minute.
Remove from the heat and garnish with spring onion and coriander and serve immediately with wedges of lime.

Nutritional info:

This spicy soup is low in calories and fat but full of fibre which helps to fill you up and stave off hunger as well as being good for your gut. The chicken is a good source of protein and provides plenty of B vitamins along with the mushrooms, which are needed for the co nversion of food into energy.

Mushroom Bureau

Not only are mushrooms inexpensive and versatile, they are also satisfying, delicious and nutritious. Their succulent and unique meaty taste adds depth and gives a balanced flavour to dishes, making them a scrumptious meat substitute.