Sweet & Sour Peasant Soup | Food, Fun, & Flamboyancy with "The Birdcage"!

For this episode, we hold the integrity of our sexual self-perceptions to the fire as we sashay decadently through the looking glass into Mike Nichols’s 1996 film: The Birdcage. And while we’re grappling desperately with our values, I’ll be sharing a modified version of a Hot & Sour Soup that my family has endearingly labeled, “Sweet & Sour Peasant Soup.”

• Ingredients:
Chicken broth (48 oz.) > Sesame oil (2 tbsp.) > Firm tofu (1 package; 16 oz.) > Shitake (or baby bella/cremini; 4 large, or one package) > Frozen peas & carrots (2 cups) > Shirataki noodles (1 package; 8 oz.) > Chili paste (2 1/2 tbsp.) > Soy sauce (6 tbsp.) > Apple cider vinegar (6 tbsp.) > Fresh ground pepper (1/2 tsp.) > Corn starch (4 tbsp.) > Water (4 tbsp.) > Eggs (2; beaten)
• Directions:
1. Sautéed mushrooms in sesame oil (2 tbsp.).
2. Bring chicken broth (48 oz.) to boil
3. Add sautéed mushrooms, tofu, peas, carrots, noodles and chili paste (2 1/2 tbsp.)—let boil for a couple of minutes.
4. Stir in soy sauce (6 tbsp.), vinegar (6 tbsp.), and pepper—mix well.
5. In a small bowl, mix corn starch (4 tbsp.) and water (4 tbsp.) until smooth, and stir into the broth.
6. Simmer for five minutes until broth thickens, then turn off heat.
7. While stirring broth in a circular direction, pour in the eggs ( 2; beaten) from several inches above the pot in a very slow stream to create ribbons.
Serve.