Four Treasure Soup

This quick Chinese soup drops tiny chicken meatballs into a hot broth loaded with four star ingredients: crunchy water chestnuts, crisp snow peas, tender carrot strips, and bright green onions. The whole thing comes together in about 15 minutes, start to finish.

The meatballs are what set this apart from a basic vegetable soup. Ground chicken breast gets mixed with minced water chestnuts, soy sauce, Chinese hot mustard, and a teaspoon of flour to bind it all. The water chestnuts add a surprising crunch inside each little meatball, and the hot mustard gives them a gentle heat that blooms in the warm broth.

Drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls into the simmering broth so they cook evenly and stay bite-sized. Three to four minutes is all they need. The carrots go in with the meatballs, but the snow peas and remaining water chestnuts get added at the very end, just to heat through. This keeps their snap intact instead of cooking them to mush.

Kitchen Tips

• Keep the meatballs small. Teaspoon-sized is right. Bigger balls take longer to cook through and throw off the delicate balance of this light soup.
• Use dry sherry, not cooking sherry. Cooking sherry is loaded with salt and tastes harsh. A decent dry sherry adds clean, warm depth.
• Serve immediately. The snow peas and water chestnuts lose their crunch fast if the soup sits. Ladle it as soon as the last vegetables are warmed.

Variations

• Shrimp version: Replace the ground chicken with finely chopped raw shrimp for a seafood twist.
• Add noodles: Drop in a handful of thin rice noodles or glass noodles with the meatballs for a more filling bowl.