Hot and Sour Soup

Name: Hot and Sour Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 5
Ingredients: 1 cup Wood ear mushrooms; 1 cup Carrot; ½ cup Shittake mushrooms; 1 Egg; 1 cup Tofu; 500 ml Water; 2 tbsp Corn starch; ½ tsp White pepper; 1 tbsp Diced ginger; 2 tsp Light soy sauce; 2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar; ½ tsp Sea salt; 1 tbsp Cooking oil; 1 tbsp Sesame oil; 1 tsp Sambal chilli sauce

AuthorYun Zhang JohnCategorySoup, VegetablesDifficultyBeginnerRating

Yields5 Servings

Prep Time10 minsCook Time10 minsTotal Time20 mins

Hot and Sour Soup

Believe it or not, hot and sour soup is not part of Sichuan cuisine. Growing up there, I never once had this corn starch thickened soup filled with shreds of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tofu…etc. It wasn’t until I moved to Canada as a child that I first tried this Chinese restaurant staple.

At the time, my dad had a friend who owned a Chinese restaurant, and I vividly remember tasting my first wonton soup and hot and sour soup there and instantly loving it! I don’t know if it was the sourness from the vinegar or the different textures of the vegetables but I would crave it often. I would order it whenever we ate out growing up.

Then after awhile, the taste worn off. I moved on to new and exciting flavours and forgot about hot and sour soup. From time to time, I would revisit it in Chinese restaurants all over the world out of nostalgia, but somehow, they never captured those first memories again.

Until I started cooking it myself.

A simple soup

Turns out, hot and sour soup is easy to make at home! Essentially, it’s just a vegetable soup heavily flavoured with ginger and white pepper for the “hotness” and Chinese black vinegar for the “sourness”.

Except of the tofu and egg, everything else can be substituted to suit your preference. Although traditionally, veggies used are:

- dried wood ear mushrooms
- bamboo shoots
- dried shittake mushrooms

The most important detail is that all the ingredients need to be cut into similar sized stripes.

The broth and sauces

Chicken stock is not needed for hot and sour soup, water would suffice because it doesn’t compete with the main flavourings of the ginger, white pepper and vinegar combo. Having said that, a mild veggie stock can be used if you so choose.

Sauces too, are kept simple. Soy sauce and Chinese vinegar of course and optionally some Sambal chilli paste for added spice. Be quite aggressive with the vinegar because it is that which make hot and sour soup tangy.

Corn starch and white pepper

But without a doubt, the Most Valuable Players (MVP) in a classic restaurant style hot and sour soup have to be corn starch and white pepper.

White pepper is used liberally as it is that that make this soup its heat, please don’t under estimate the power of white pepper, it packs a mighty punch. And corn starch give this soup body, making it more interesting than pieces of vegetable floating in water, corn starch thickens the soup making it heartier and smoother in texture.

You Will Need

1 cup Wood ear mushroomsCut into stripes

1 cup CarrotCut into stripes

½ cup Shittake mushroomsCut into stripes

1 Egg

1 cup TofuCut into stripes

500 ml Water

2 tbsp Corn starch

½ tsp White pepper1/2 - 1 tsp

1 tbsp Diced ginger

2 tsp Light soy sauceAdjust to taste 2-3 tsp

2 tbsp Chinese black vinegarAdjust to taste 2-3 tbsp

½ tsp Sea saltAdjust to taste

1 tbsp Cooking oil

1 tbsp Sesame oilOptional

1 tsp Sambal chilli sauceOptional

Instructions

Soak dried mushrooms in water to rehydrate, then cut into thin size stripes. Do the same with any other vegetables you are using such as the carrot, tofu, bamboo..etc

To a medium sauce pan and add the oil and ginger and chilli paste if using and slowly letting it sizzle over medium heat for a minute.

Add water and then just toss in all your thinly sliced veggies, including the tofu, increase the heat to medium high to bring everything up to a soft boil.

While that’s happening, beat up the egg and make your corn starch slurry by combining corn starch with a couple tbsp of cold water.

After the soup comes up to a boil, cook it for a couple of minutes and then add in soy sauce, vinegar, white pepper, sugar and salt. Stir through and pour the slurry into the soup and cook until thickened.

Finally, drizzle in the beaten egg, cook for a minute then add some sesame oil if desired and serve hot.

Ingredients

1 cup Wood ear mushroomsCut into stripes

1 cup CarrotCut into stripes

½ cup Shittake mushroomsCut into stripes

1 Egg

1 cup TofuCut into stripes

500 ml Water

2 tbsp Corn starch

½ tsp White pepper1/2 - 1 tsp

1 tbsp Diced ginger

2 tsp Light soy sauceAdjust to taste 2-3 tsp

2 tbsp Chinese black vinegarAdjust to taste 2-3 tbsp

½ tsp Sea saltAdjust to taste

1 tbsp Cooking oil

1 tbsp Sesame oilOptional

1 tsp Sambal chilli sauceOptional

Directions

Soak dried mushrooms in water to rehydrate, then cut into thin size stripes. Do the same with any other vegetables you are using such as the carrot, tofu, bamboo..etc

To a medium sauce pan and add the oil and ginger and chilli paste if using and slowly letting it sizzle over medium heat for a minute.

Add water and then just toss in all your thinly sliced veggies, including the tofu, increase the heat to medium high to bring everything up to a soft boil.

While that’s happening, beat up the egg and make your corn starch slurry by combining corn starch with a couple tbsp of cold water.

Finally, drizzle in the beaten egg, cook for a minute then add some sesame oil if desired and serve hot.

Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients Directions