Hot and Sour Soup

Even though hot and sour soup originated in China, you can probably find it on a menu in some Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, or even Indian restaurants. I can see why different versions of it have been developed over time – hot and sour soup is super tasty. It is one of my favourite soups and is my soup of choice when I go to Chinese buffets.

I was craving soup recently so I decided to try making hot and sour soup. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty well and was easier to make than I thought it would be. If you are following my recipe below and like tofu and Chinese black fungus, then you should add some to your hot and sour soup. I didn’t put any in mine. 😳

Recipe

Level: Easy | Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 3 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 stalk of green onion
• 1 large egg
• 900ml of chicken broth
• 2 tsp of corn starch
• 1 can of bamboo shoots
• 1/8 cup of rice vinegar
• 1/8 cup of soy sauce (low sodium if you want it to be less salty)
• 1 tsp of chili garlic sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• Black pepper (to taste)
• Cayenne pepper (to taste)

Directions

1. Cut the shiitake mushrooms into thin slices, with the stems removed.
2. Dice the green onion stalk.
3. Whisk one large egg in a bowl.
4. Open the can of bamboo shoots and empty the liquid from it.
5. Mix 1/4 cup of the chicken broth with 2 tsp of corn starch and put aside.
6. Put the rest of the chicken broth, sliced shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, 1/8 cup of rice vinegar, 1/8 cup of soy sauce, 1 tsp of chili garlic sauce, and 1 tsp of sesame oil into a pot and heat until it is simmering.
7. Add the chicken broth and corn starch mixture to the soup, and stir until the soup has thickened.
8. Keep stirring the soup in a circular motion and pour the whisked egg in slowly.
9. Add black pepper and cayenne pepper to the soup if you prefer.
10. Remove the hot and sour soup from the heated element and add the diced green onions.
11. Let the soup cool a bit, serve, and enjoy!

If you want a good main dish to make with this, check out my Japanese Carbonara blog post.