If you eat at Chinese restaurants or buffets, chances are you have probably tried the hot and sour soup. The ‘hot’ comes from chili and garlic paste and pepper. The ‘sour’ comes from vinegar. Many hot and sour soup recipes call for ingredients such as wood ear fungus and lily buds… these ingredients can be hard or nearly impossible to find in many areas. This recipe calls for neither. Even if you cannot find some of the ingredients on the list, they can easily be replaced with something else. If you do not eat meat, the pork can easily be omitted. If you are using the tofu, I would suggest letting the soup marinate for at least a day to allow the flavors to develop before serving. Don’t let the slightly longer list of ingredients turn you away, this recipe is very easy! Enjoy.
(Makes 10 servings)
PrintHot and Sour Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock
- ¼ lb pork (julienned)
- 2 tablespoons garlic and chili paste
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 eggs (beaten)
- 5 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 cup shitake mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 can peeled straw mushrooms
- 1 can sliced bamboo shoots
- 1 can sliced water chestnuts
- 1 can baby sweet corn cobs
- ½ lb soft tofu (sliced into small cubes)
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- green onions (sliced)
Instructions
- In a large pot bring chicken stock to a simmer. Add soy sauce, pork, mushrooms and garlic, and chili paste. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add pepper, vinegar, bamboo shoots, baby corn cobs, water chestnuts, and tofu. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Bring to a slow boil. Mix 5 tablespoons of cornstarch with 5 tablespoons of water and add to the soup while stirring.
- Bring the soup back to a simmer and pour beaten eggs in a thin stream into the soup. Let stand 10 seconds and gently stir in sesame oil. Garnish with green onions.
Bobby
Monday 28th of September 2009
farah - the soup you are seeing in the picture has no egg in it. I did it because I thought it would make a better picture, you did nothing wrong.
farah
Sunday 27th of September 2009
This recipe looked really good, so i tried it out last nite. But my soup didnt turn out the way it looks here in the picture. It wasnt clear, although i used 2 eggs...but it looked eggy :S wat did i do wrong??
dora
Thursday 16th of July 2009
This looks great! My husband and I love your blog. We have tried your sweet and sour chicken recipe. We bake the chikcen and it tastes great without having to fry everything. Keep the blogs coming. We look forward to them!
andriana
Saturday 11th of April 2009
I love hot and sour. I've never made it. I'll write to let you know how it turns out.
trish
Wednesday 1st of April 2009
Hi Bobby,
Just wanted to say that I tried your recipe and it turned out greatttt!! Its probably the best hot and sour recipe I tried till now.
Thankx...and I love your blog. keep it up :)