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Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣汤) - Authentic Chinese restaurant-style hot and sour soup made easy. The hearty broth is loaded with veggies and is so satisfying and healthy. The recipe includes notes on how to tweak the soup into a vegetarian one and to use whatever veggies you have on hand. #takeout #recipes #traditional

Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣汤)

4.89 from 63 votes
Chinese restaurant-style hot and sour soup made easy! The hearty, spicy, sour broth is loaded with mushrooms, silky eggs, and tofu. I’ve included lots of notes so you can tweak the recipe with the ingredients you have on hand, plus how to make this dish vegetarian. {Vegetarian adaptable}
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: takeout
Servings: 4
Author: Maggie Zhu

Ingredients

(Optional) Rehydrate (*Footnote 1)

Optional Marinate (*Footnote 2)

  • 1/2 lbs (230 g) pork loin (or chicken breast) cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Soup

  • 2 teaspoons minced ginger
  • 2 green onions chopped
  • 2 tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper powder (or 1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder for a less spicy dish)
  • 6 cups water or chicken stock (*Footnote 3)
  • 1/2 block (8 oz / 227 g) firm tofu, cubed
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce or soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

  • Gently rinse dried shiitake mushrooms, dried wood ear mushrooms, and lily flowers with tap water. Soak each of them with 1.5 to 2 cups warm water in three big bowls. Rehydrate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until tender. Slice mushrooms into strips. Snip off the tough ends of lily flowers and discard. Remove tough ends of wood ear mushrooms, then chop into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the marinating water from lily flower and shiitake mushrooms, 2 cups in total
  • Combine pork, Shaoxing wine, salt and cornstarch in a bowl. Mix well by hand. Marinate for 10 - 15 minutes.
  • Add Chinkiang vinegar and white pepper into a small bowl. Mix well until the white pepper is completely dissolved.
  • Add water or chicken stock, ginger, and green onion into a pot and heat over medium-high heat. If you reserved the marinating liquid from step one, you can add it plus 4 cups water or chicken stock.
  • Add rehydrated wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and tofu to the pot. Cook until bringing to a simmer. Add soy sauce and turn to medium-low heat.
  • Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water in a bowl until cornstarch is fully dissolved. Slowly swirl the cornstarch slurry into the soup. Stir to thicken the soup.
  • Add the pork from step one into the soup, stirring several times to prevent the pork strips from sticking together. Add the salt. Slowly swirl in the beaten egg and stir well. The egg should be scattered and not clotted.
  • Remove the pot from stove. Add the vinegar and pepper mixture and stir to mix well.
  • Garnish with cilantro and drizzle with sesame oil. Give it a final stir. Taste the soup and add more salt if needed.
  • Serve hot.

Notes

  1. If you do not have these dry ingredients, you can use half a pound of fresh mushrooms instead. Then use chicken stock instead of water to make the soup.
  2. Skip the meat if you want to create a vegetarian dish.
  3. Use chicken stock or vegetable stock instead of water if you are not using the dry ingredients (shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and wood ear mushrooms) in this recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 216kcal, Carbohydrates: 9.1g, Protein: 19.9g, Fat: 11.1g, Saturated Fat: 3.3g, Cholesterol: 112mg, Sodium: 883mg, Potassium: 473mg, Fiber: 1.3g, Sugar: 1.6g, Calcium: 110mg, Iron: 3.6mg