Hot and sour soup
10 Mar
Editor’s Note: An important, updated version of this recipe can be found here.
Before we bid farewell to winter, I wanted to share this simple hot and sour recipe. This is one of my favorite soups to eat whenever I eat Chinese food, which I realize, is not very often. But now that I know how to make it, I can enjoy it anytime I want!
All of the soups I’ve had at restaurants use cornstarch as a thickener. While I don’t mind it, I didn’t want a big pot of gloppy soup so I omitted corn starch. It’s up to you!
I would recommend cooking pork on the frying pan, then deglazing the pan for extra flavor. Sorry to say that I actually ended up omitting a few ingredients that I didn’t have on hand (bamboo shoots, pork, white pepper).
I got this recipe from Kevin at Closet Cooking. Kevin makes delicious recipes with gorgeous photos and makes them all look so easy! I especially love that makes kimchi. 
Check out his blog for inspiration!
Chinese style hot and sour soup
Adapted from Closet Cooking
Makes 4 small servings
Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
6 dried tree ear mushrooms
6 dried black mushrooms
8 dried lily buds
1/2 cup of bamboo shoots
4 ounces of pork loin
4 tablespoons of light soy sauce
3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of Chinese black vinegar
2 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of chili sauce (to taste)
2 teaspoons of chili oil (to taste)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of black pepper (ground)
1 teaspoon of white pepper (ground)
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 package tofu (cut into small pieces)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
4 green onions (sliced)
Directions:
1. Soak the tree ear and black mushrooms in boiling water until softened, about 20 minutes, and shred them.
2. Soak the lily buds in warm water until softened, about 20 minutes, and shred them.
3. Cover the bamboo shoots in water, bring to a boil, drain and shred.
4. Mix the vinegars, soy sauce, salt and sugar in a bowl.
5. Mix the cornstarch into the water in a bowl.
6. Heat oil in a large pan.
7. Add the pork, tree ear and black mushrooms, lily buds and bamboo shoots and saute for a minute. Add a cup of broth to the pan and deglaze.
8. In a large pot, add the broth and tofu and bring to a boil.
9. Add the vinegar mixture and the cornstarch(optional) and stir until it thickens.
10. Pour the eggs into the soup in a thin stream while stirring the soup.
11. Stir in the peppers, oils and chili sauce.
12. Serve garnished with green onions.
