Hot and Sour Soup
Hsiao-Ching Chou
Author's Note: For the month of November, I am participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) and pledge to post once a day.
Hot and sour soup. mychinesesoulfood.com
Traditional hot and sour soup contains ingredients such as lily buds and pork blood in addition to slivered pork and the ingredients below. I didn't grow up eating pork blood and lily buds, so I'm not accustomed to including them in my hot and sour soup. The recipe below is "friendlier" to vegetarians.
HOT AND SOUR SOUP
SERVES FOUR
6 cups water
1/3 cup soy sauce, or more to taste
1/4 cup white vinegar, or more to taste
2 teaspoons ground white pepper, or to taste
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted and sliced (or fresh)
1 small block medium or firm tofu, cut into strips
1 cup bamboo shoot strips
1/2 cup cornstarch, mixed with 1/2 cup water to make a slurry
3 eggs, beaten
Sesame oil
Chopped onions, for garnish, optional
Chopped cilantro, for garnish, optional
In a large soup pot, add water, soy sauce, vinegar and white pepper. Then add the mushrooms, tofu, bamboo shoots. Let mixture come to a boil.
When soup reaches a boil, turn down heat to medium. In consecutive slow pours, add the cornstarch slurry to the soup while stirring. The soup will start to thicken.
When the soup returns to a boil, drizzle the egg on top. When the egg blossoms, give the soup a gentle stir to incorporate the egg. Taste the soup. Add more soy, vinegar and white pepper, if needed. Drizzle with sesame oil and serve with garnishes.
Scallion pancakes, which taste great on their own or as an accompaniment to the soup. mychinesesoulfood.com
Look for the scallion pancake recipe here.