Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup is easily my favorite Chinese style soup. When I go out to a Chinese restaurant, I always order it and it's usually the way I can instantly judge the quality of the restaurant.

It's usually cheap and easy enough to order by delivery, but hey, now and then it's fun to make yourself.

 INGREDIENTS:

The only draw back for making Hot and Sour Soup is the number of ingredients it takes to make it. Here are the pantry ingredients used to make the broth and develop flavors:

from left to right: garlic powder, toasted sesame oil, peanut oil, ground ginger, kosher salt, white pepper, chicken broth, soy sauce, black vinegar, brown sugar, and cornstarch

Next come the other ingredients that make the soup so hearty:

5-7 ounces of Firm Tofu
1/4 of a Pork Loin
1 small can sliced Bamboo Shoots
1 Carrot
4-5 Green Onions
1/4 cup dried Black Fungus (it will expand)
4-6 Shitake Mushrooms

I usually start with the Tofu, since it takes a while to drain.

 I use about 5-7 ounces of Tofu. The packages I get at Trader Joes come in 14 oz. sizes, so I usually just cut one block in half.

Next you'll want to slice the tofu lengthwise about a 1/2 inch thick.

Then I lay the slices down on top of each other and cut it in half - so that the slices will be about 2-3 inches in length.

Finally, slice the tofu again in about 1/2 inch slices.

And you'll wind up with tofu slices that look like this:

My trick for draining tofu is to put a couple paper towels on a plate.

Lay the tofu on top.

And cover with an additional layer of paper towels.

I usually repeat this step a couple times until the moisture has drained well.

While I'm working with the Tofu, I'll usually leave a Pork Loin in the freezer for a while. You want to get the pork loin a little stiff, but not frozen. This makes it easier to slice.

Slice the pork loin into thin strips.

You'll eventually want the pork loin to look roughly like the same sized strips as the tofu.

Next I'll prep the Bamboo Shoots. You can by them in various shapes and sizes.

If they've already been cut into proper size, all you need to do is rinse them off well.

Next I use some Dried Black Fungus (tastes like mushrooms).



You'll want to soak the fungus in water for about 5-10 minutes until they rehydrate.

Feel the fungus for hard root/stem ends.

You'll want to chop off any part of the fungus that is still hard.

Next, take a bunch of the fungus and roll it up.

Once rolled up chop it up -  (you're going to do the same technique you would do to make a chiffonade of basil, for example).

Until you're left with thin strips of black fungus.

Take one carrot

 And I like to use what's called a julienne peeler for this.

You can use it to first peel the carrot, and then peel/grate the carrot into very thin strips.

julienne peelers make this sooo much easier

A few Green Onions (AKA Scallions)

Chop them on a bias to make a pointy looking 1/4 inch bite of scallion.

In addition to the Black Fungus, I like to use some more traditional mushrooms like Shitake.

Pull off or cut out the stems.

 And chop them into strips just like everything else.

And now we have all our ingredients ready to go!

Heat a deep Wok over medium-high heat until good and hot. Add a couple tablespoons of peanut oil.

Add the pork strips and sauté, stirring, until starting to brown on both sides.

Add your Shitake and sauté for another minute.

Then add the bamboo shoots, carrot and black fungus.



 Season liberally with salt, white pepper, garlic powder. Also add 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar.

The White Pepper has a bit of heat and a great flavor, but you might also want to add a pinch of crushed red pepper, which I left off the list. It is called HOT and Sour Soup after all.

Don't use all that!! Just a pinch will do!

Sauté for a minute and add a couple tablespoons of soy sauce.

Then add a couple cups of chicken broth.

Add a tablespoon of black vinegar (if you don't have black vinegar, you can use Worcestershire sauce which has an oddly similar flavor).

Add a teaspoon of Toasted Sesame Oil

And a tablespoon of ground or minced Ginger.

Once everything is simmering nicely, you want to add 1 beaten egg. Do this slowly, pouring the egg into thin lines if possible.

 Give the eggs a few seconds to set, and then give it a good stir.

Give the soup a taste, and if the soup is too liquidy, add some cornstarch. The best way to do this is to make a "slurry" - meaning combine a teaspoon of cornstarch with a 1/4 cup of water in a little bowl . Stir it up and then pour that into the soup. The cornstarch will thicken the soup drastically, so only do one teaspoon at a time and then stir the soup. Wait for at least 30 seconds before deciding whether you want to add more cornstarch.

Once the soup is ready, but some in a bowl and top it with the green onions.

Enjoy!!