Welcome to Foodie Friday! Since I haven’t been leaving the house other than for work and the occasional takeout from one of my favorite places (CheeseCups), I’ve been mainly eating Chinese food. I figured I’d revamp an old post and share a recipe for imitation shark fin soup today!
Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy and somewhat of a status symbol (in my opinion) in China. I’ve always hated the practice of shark finning, so instead of endorsing extremely disturbing animal cruelty, the “shark fin” in this recipe is actually glass/cellophane noodles (you can also use vermicelli noodles). :] What are glass noodles, you ask? It’s a type of transparent noodle made from starch (often mung bean) + water!
This post was actually from allll the way back in 11/2011 when my blog was just my public-but-private (no one knew about it) online journal to dump all my kitchen experiments. I got this recipe from my dad though! The old version had rice in it to make it more filling, which made life easier for people who lived the life of a work junkie (hello, that’d be me! …that’s actually still probably me, haha).
If you’ve never heard of winter mushrooms (冬菇 / “dong gu”), they’re usually easily found in Asian supermarkets! If you don’t count water as an ingredient, this recipe only takes 5 ingredients to make!!
鱼翅汤 (Imitation Shark Fin Soup)
Imitation Shark Fin Soup
Ingredients
- 2 12 oz packages glass noodles
- 1 cup shredded chicken
- 10-15 Chinese winter mushrooms cut into slivers
- 3-4 tbsp chicken essence
- cornstarch
Instructions
- Soak mushrooms for 7-8 hours (or overnight) in water.*
- Soak the glass noodles in cold water for 10-15 minutes, then drain water and rinse.
- Add 6 cups of water into a large pot with the mushrooms and noodles (should be translucent). Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat.
- Add in the shredded chicken** and mix.
- In a small bowl, add 3 tbsp cornstarch and just enough water to cover the cornstarch. Stir vigorously to combine.
- Pour the mixture into the pot and mix well. Let it thicken for 3-5 minutes.
- Serve hot!
Notes
- *A shortcut for this is to use combine 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1/2 tsp sugar with lukewarm water (just enough to cover the mushrooms) in a container with an airtight lid. Cover with the lid and shake for 5-10 minutes.
- **We usually just get a rotisserie chicken and shred the meat for this + salads.
End-of-Week-ish Recap!
- Come hang out with me on a virtual tour of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park from Travel Tuesday! (If you missed out on Balcony House, be sure to check that out too! :] )
- What foods have you been craving lately?
- Have you been doing much quarantine cooking? Any recipes to share?
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I have never had shark fin soup! I think my husband has. Well I am certainly a fan of using cellophane noodles instead of shark fin for this. Interesting take!
Shark fin pretty much has no taste, so there’s no reason to use it anyway. :] The cellophane noodles are a way more humane choice!
Wow what an intriguing recipe. I have never had shark fin soup but would definitely give this a try!
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I like this variation a lot better! :] Way more humane. <3
I have never heard of shark fin soup, either! I was relieved to see there we’re actually noodles in this instead LOL
Yeah, don’t worry! I have zero intention of ever using real shark fin! :/
Farrah recently posted…“鱼翅”汤 (Imitation Shark Fin Soup)
I’ve never had shark fin but now I want to try it sounds delicious
It’s really good! :] Hope you like it if you try it!
I have never had (or even heard of shark fin soup)! It sounds interesting though!
It’s a traditional Chinese soup but I disagree with the ethics of how the “real” thing is prepared, so I like the imitation version a lot better! No sharks harmed this way. :]
I just love it when you can make a vegetarian variation of a recipe that compliments the original so well! Great recipe!
Agreed + thank you! This does have chicken in it, but you can leave that part out and do a meat substitute instead! :]