Homemade Hot and Sour soup
Growing up, hot and sour was my favourite soup. My mom used to buy these hot and sour soup mixes and I would boil hot water, add in powder and a beaten egg. It was a quick and easy soup. However, it had a lot of additives and sodium in the soup. I want to make it at home without all the additives. For this homemade hot and sour soup, it does not skimp on flavour but I made some slight adjustment so it’s easier to make at home. I love the fact I can add a lot of veggies into the soup. It certainly helps me to get some vegetables in (although I’m not picky with vegetables).
History of Hot and Sour soup
Hot and sour soup is closely related to another soup popular in Henan province. It’s called ่ก่พฃๆฑค or translated as hot pepper soup. It’s heavily seasoned with pepper whereas hot and sour soup has vinegar it as well. Hot pepper soup is a thick hearty soup and often eaten at breakfast. The soup is often paired with thick flatbread. It’s very popular in China and there are many variations. The hot pepper soup has meat in it but most of the hot and sour soups I’ve had are vegetarian but adding meat is definitely an option!
Why I made this soup
As I said above, I wanted to make this soup with less additives and during that time it was also the pandemic so I started to cook more at home. Before pandemic, I would never think about making some dishes that I find in restaurants because I could just buy it. Once the lockdown was in place, I started to cook more not only because of convenience, it was also to pass time. This was one of the dishes I made at home and it tasted delicious. This recipe is slightly different than the ones you buy outside as itโs more lighter in flavour and thickness but still delicious!
Ingredients
The ingredients are pretty versatile, I like putting some enoki mushroom, tofu and bamboo shoots in the soup. This soup is vegetarian but you can add meat to this as well, I added some sausages. If you are adding raw meat like ground meat, you should stir fry it first before cooking the soup. I also added tomatoes because they have a natural tanginess and sweetness which helps to enhance ed sothe soup.
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 green onion chopped
- 2-3 tomatoes diced
- 1/2 cup rehydrated wood ear mushroom (optional)
- 1/2 pack of enoki mushrooms
- 1/2 block of medium or soft tofu sliced
- 4 cups water
- 1-2 egg beaten
- 1-2 hot dog or chicken wieners julienned (optional)
Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 3/4 tsp salt
Substitutions:
If you donโt have fresh tomatoes on hand, you can use 1/2 can of diced tomatoes.
Wood ear mushroom is not mandatory, if you have it you can put it or else, omit it. In addition you can choose to add any other ingredients like canned bamboo shoots, oyster mushrooms.
How to make hot and sour soup
Prep
- Put dried wood ear mushroom into warm water for 5 minutes
- Cut the scallions, cut tomatoes into chunks and set aside
- Cut tofu and wood ear mushroom into strips, set aside
- Wash and separate the enoki mushroom, set aside
- Crack and beat an egg into a bowl.
Cooking the soup
- On medium high heat, in a pot, add some oil and add in the scallion to stir fry for 1-2 minutes
- Add in the tomatoes and add salt. Stir fry until the juices started to come out of the tomatoes (3-4 minutes)
- Add in water.
- Then add in tofu, enoki, wood ear mushroom.
- Add in black Chinese vinegar, soy sauce and white pepper.
- Let it come to a boil (4 minutes)
- Once it’s boiling, let it boil for about 1-2 minutes then add in beaten egg.
- Once the egg is cooked then it ready.
- Optional: if you want the soup to be thicken, then mix about 1 tsp of corn starch with 2 tbsp of water. Add to the soup to thicken.
- Add a bit of chopped scallions to garnish and serve.
Pro-tip:
- Grab a small amount of the wood ear mushroom, it will expand with water and be a lot more than you expect. If you don’t like too much of wood ear mushroom, grab less than 1/4 cup. Less is more!
- If you using meat, cut it into thin strips, season with some soy sauce, sugar, baking soda, a bit of salt. Then stir fry the meat or else your soup will be cloudy if you don’t cook the meat.
- Add half of the recommended amount for vinegar and pepper, taste and adjust. This way you can avoid over seasoning the soup.
Homemade Hot and Sour soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 green onion chopped
- 2-3 tomatoes diced
- ยฝ cup rehydrated wood ear mushroom optional
- ยฝ pack of enoki mushrooms
- ยฝ block of medium or soft tofu sliced
- 4 cups water
- 1-2 egg beaten
- 1-2 hot dog or chicken wieners julienned optional
Soup seasoning
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ยผ cup Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- ยพ tsp salt
Instructions
Prep
- Put dried wood ear mushroom into warm water for 5 minutes
- Cut the scallions, cut tomatoes into chunks and set aside
- Cut tofu and wood ear mushroom into strips, set aside
- Wash and separate the enoki mushroom, set aside
- Crack and beat an egg into a bowl.
Cooking the soup
- On medium high heat, in a pot, add some oil and add in the scallion to stir fry for 1-2 minutes
- Add in the tomatoes and add salt. Stir fry until the juices started to come out of the tomatoes (3-4 minutes)
- Add in water.
- Then add in tofu, enoki, wood ear mushroom.
- Add in black Chinese vinegar, soy sauce and white pepper.
- Let it come to a boil (4 minutes)
- Once it’s boiling, let it boil for about 1-2 minutes then add in beaten egg.
- Once the egg is cooked then it ready.
- Optional: if you want the soup to be thicken, then mix about 1 tsp of corn starch with 2 tbsp of water. Add to the soup to thicken.
- Add a bit of chopped scallions to garnish and serve.
