Hot and Sour Soup

"After trying many recipes, this one comes the closest to the soup served at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Be sure and have all ingredients cut, measured, etc. before you start, because it goes together fairly quickly once you get going."
 
Download
photo by nuwa8191 photo by nuwa8191
photo by nuwa8191
Ready In:
50mins
Ingredients:
19
Serves:
5
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • Soak wood ear mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes.
  • Drain and julienne the mushrooms after removing tough center/core of each mushroom.
  • In a wok, over medium heat, add oil.
  • Season pork with salt and pepper.
  • When the oil is hot, add the pork and chopped white onions and stir fry for 2 minutes.
  • Add all mushrooms, bamboo shoots and bean curd.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • Sauté for 2 minutes.
  • Add the stock and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Dissolve the cornstarch in water.
  • Stir the cornstarch mixture into simmering liquid.
  • Bring back to a boil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the soy sauce and rice vinegar.
  • In a wide circle, stir in the beaten eggs.
  • Stir gently until the eggs are cooked.
  • Season the soup with Tabasco sauce to desired hotness.
  • Reseason soup with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve in bowls, topping with green onion tops and crispy noodles (fried strips of wonton wrappers) if desired.
  • Notes------------.
  • The Tabasco provides the hot, adjust quantity added according to taste.
  • More can be added at the table to allow for additional heat as desired!
  • The rice vinegar provides the sour;, so add more as needed until desired tartness is achieved.
  • The more soy added, the darker the overall color of the broth, but as it is high in sodium, add more in small quantities and taste accordingly, until desired flavor results.
  • White pepper can be substituted for the black pepper.
  • Although the fresh ground black pepper more strongly flavors the soup overall than the white pepper does.
  • Can be made vegetarian by eliminating the pork strips.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. Fantastic recipe. You can really personalize the taste. Very quick, easy and tasty!
     
  2. This is a really nice soup with a complex flavour; my husband loved it. The recipe seems perfect to me, although I skipped some of the seasoning steps and added seasoning at the end instead. Thank you, Kathy.
     
  3. This compares to the hot and sour soup I get from my favorite restuarant. I love it and will definitely make it again soon. Next time, I think I won't add so many mushrooms as I prefer my soup with a bit more broth. Also, I had no clue what type of tofu so I got medium/hard. Next time I will get soft/medium. That you so much, Kathy!
     
  4. Excellent hot and sour soup, KathyShu. It has the classic taste I was looking for but hadn't yet found in a hot and sour soup recipe. I suspect rice vinegar is a must in terms of the right sour note. Thanks for posting this easy, tasty recipe for my favorite soup!
     
  5. Looks very nice, can't wait to try it. I would like to note, however, that contrary to the directions, it is not possible to make a chicken stock based soup vegetarian by simply omitting the pork strips!!!!
     
Advertisement

Tweaks

  1. i actually have never tasted this. No hot and sour soup for me. However, this is the recipe my husband requests when he's sick. He says it's perfect and even better than the Chinese restaurant's. In a pinch, i've used chicken breast instead of pork. No complaints from him. i also add red pepper flakes. Thanks for the recipe, Kathy!
     
  2. I prepared ingredients, meaning to use another recipe for hot & sour soup, when I realised last minute that it was rather vague on certain details. Searched for another recipe on 'Zaar and found this! Omitted the pork and straw mushrooms cos I didn't have them in the kitchen, and substituted the red wine vinegar (which the last recipe had called for) for rice vinegar. It turned out quite well, only a little too salty, will add less soy sauce next time. I loved the effect that swirling the egg has, makes for lovely presentation.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I have been cooking since I was in junior high and am not afraid to try new things and experiment with recipes. Due to recently discovered kidney problems, I am struggling to stick to a low sodium diet (2000 mg/day).
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes