Glass noodle soup with mushrooms ala Szechuan

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 250 g chicken giblets, frozen
• 6 small onions, red
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 2 m.-large tomato(s)
• 1 piece(s) carrot(s), approx. 40 g
• 1 piece(s) ginger, approx. 15 g
• 2 small red chili peppers
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 300 g water
• 6 g broth powder (mushroom broth), granular
• 2 g powder (shrimp powder)
• 1 tsp sugar, fine
• 2 stalks lemongrass, fresh
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 10 g mushrooms (cloud ears or Judas ears), dried
• 50 g glass noodles (rice), fine
• 80 g mushrooms, white (can)

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 35 minutes

Serve a hearty, well-seasoned soup as a snack or with fewer glass noodles as a final course.

Rinse the thawed chicken giblets, add them to about 1 liter of boiling water, and simmer for 2 minutes. Strain and rinse with cold water. Discard the stock, clean the pot, and return the giblets to the pot. Trim both ends of the onions and garlic cloves, peel, and roughly chop. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalks, halve lengthwise, and remove the green stem base. Halve the halves lengthwise and crosswise. Wash a piece of carrot, trim both ends, peel, and use whole. Finely grate the fresh, washed, and peeled ginger. Weigh the frozen goods. Wash the small red chilies and use whole with the stalks. Heat the sunflower oil in a pan, add the onions and garlic, and roast until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, half the amount of the carrot sticks, ginger, and chilies, and fry for 2 minutes. Deglaze with the water, add the mixture to the pot with the chicken giblets, and bring to a simmer. Add the mushroom stock, shrimp powder, and sugar and stir in. Wash the fresh lemongrass, remove the tough stalk at the bottom, discard any brown or wilted leaves, and use only the white to light green parts. Cut these into approximately 8 cm long pieces. Remove the outer, green leaves if necessary. Gently pound the bottom half of the pieces with the back of a knife, leaving the stems visually intact. Wash the kaffir lime leaves and add them to the simmering broth along with the lemongrass. After an hour, strain the broth and let it cool slightly. In the meantime, soak the cloud ears and glass noodles in lukewarm water. Use scissors to shorten the glass noodles to about 6 cm in length, strain, and add to the broth. Clean the soft cloud ears and mushrooms and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Keep the leaves, the carrot piece, the lemongrass, and the chilies remaining in the sieve and discard the rest. Press the carrot piece into the broth using a garlic press. Add the mushrooms, lemongrass, chilies, and leaves to the broth and simmer for 5 minutes. Divide among serving bowls, serve warm, and enjoy.