[This recipe is courtesy my mother. You may have to play with the proportions and times.]
Ingredients
1/2 lb. Pork
1 cup hom mai (dried shrimp available at an Asian grocery store)
15 dried black mushrooms
4 packages cellophane noodles
1 large ga (Chinese squash)
salt and white pepper to taste
The essence of this soup is all in the preparation. Cooking it is simplicity itself, if you have access to all the ingredients.
First, prepare the mushrooms by soaking them in warm water for an hour before you want to make the soup. At the same time in another bowl, place the cellophane noodles in warm water to soak. While they are soaking prepare the ga by first washing it and then cutting it into small rectangular slices. Put them aside till the soup is almost finished as they do not take long to cook.
Take the mushrooms out of the water and reserve the water for the soup. Take the mushrooms and cut off the stems and then slice the mushrooms into thin strips. Then put the pork, hom mai, mushrooms and mushroom water into an 8 quart pot with water and boil for a half hour. Take the pork out and slice it before returning it to the pot.
Then add the cellophane noodles and ga to the soup and cook for another 20 minutes. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Mangia!