I meant for this to be my dinner appetizer, but I spooned so much into my bowl that it became a meal.
Hot and sour soup didn’t appear in my childhood of Cantonese home dinners. It did, however, appear in my Chinese-American childhood, as a Sichuan/Northern Chinese dish that became bastardized for the greasy take-out joints of suburban America. I have had one too many versions that were so thick and rubbery I could stretch them with my hands like Silly Putty. Here is some advice to the aforementioned Chinese restaurants in the US: Cornstarch is never a main ingredient; just use sparingly.
(From upper left: Wood ear, lily buds, fresh bamboo, shiitake mushrooms. Bowl: fresh firm tofu.)
In the US, hot and sour soup also tends to lack the lily buds, shiitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots that make it a nutrient-rich, even somewhat refined, dish. (This is the Chinese version, not to be confused with Vietnamese, Filipino, or Thai hot and sour soups.) I also like to add wood ear and tofu for texture variation. Today I also used fresh instead of canned bamboo shoots, which I couldn’t find when I went food shopping this morning.
The amount of pepper and vinegar here is enough to make the soup sufficiently, and respectively, “hot” and “sour”, without being overwhelming. But if you like more bite and tang, feel free to add a tiny bit more. And remember to drizzle in the egg after adding the vinegar, or else the egg will just disperse and give the soup a cloudy appearance.
And finally, a tablespoon of cornstarch goes a long, long way.
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Chinese Hot and Sour Soup
Serves 2 as a meal, or 4 to 6 as an appetizer
- 6 or 7 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 cup dried lily buds
- 1/2 cup dried wood ear (also called cloud ear or black tree fugus)
- 1/2 cup bamboo shoots, sliced, fresh or canned
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 cup firm or extra firm tofu, sliced into strips
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 tablespoons vinegar (I used dark, but white or cider vinegar also fine)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1. Soak the mushrooms, lily buds, and wood ear in room temperature water for 20 to 30 minutes. Squeeze out excess water. Thinly slice mushrooms and wood ear. Slice rough black ends off lily buds and cut them in half. Rinse bamboo shoots and thinly slice.
2. Bring water to boil. Toss in mushrooms, lily buds, wood ear, and bamboo. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add tofu and soy sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the vinegar, sesame oil, and pepper. Drizzle egg into the pot while stirring so that egg rivulets form. Stir in cornstarch mixture to thicken. Simmer for another 5 minutes, then reduce heat. Salt to taste. Spoon into individual bowls and serve.
This is one of my all time favorite soups. When I can find it, I like to add sea cucumber, it gives a nice crunch.
BTW I just happened to stumble upon your blog. Have already bookmarked several of your recipes.
looks great! this is one of those dishes that i would have no idea how to make without a recipe — so thank you!!!
Hot & sour soup, done right, is my favorite! I too have tasted too many bad imitations. Yours looks fabulous!
Because I like sour. Now you’re making my mouth water.
Yum!! This is my one of my all time favorite soups and your recipe looks just like the one I make except I add finely julienned carrots towards the end of cooking and garnish with green onion. Now I want some….
I really enjoy your site!! Thanks!
You’re right: had too many bad versions of goopy hot and sour soups that it’s time for a good one. Thanks for the recipe.
I LOVE this recipe- I made it this evening for dinner. The recipe is quick and easy, and the flavors are so beautifully balanced. Too add a bit more flavor, I used 2 T of the shiitake/woodear soaking liquid to mix with the cornstarch. Delicious!
SwissKiki – So glad you enjoyed the recipe! And that you tweaked it w/ an old Chinese home cook trick.
The text says “remember to add the egg after the vinegar or else…” ; The recipe says add the egg and then add the vinegar. Which works? Thanks so much for this wonderful looking recipe!!!!
Bob – Fixed! Thanks for pointing that out. You must add the egg after the vinegar.
Cut into small strips like the bamboo
I don’t use congealed blood in my hot & sour soup.
I’m also new to this site, having just found it today. Many of the recipes look great, and I’m looking forward to trying them. The photos are a big plus. It’s great having a color picture giving me a clue as to what the finished dish should look like.
I got my start in the late ’70s, cooking extensively from Mrs. Chiang’s Szechuan Cookbook. I noticed a few differences here and there, likely attributable to the fact that so many cooks learned recipes and techniques in their home kitchens. For example, as mentioned earlier,some recipes call for coagulated pig’s blood. In another instance, Mrs. Chiang calls for cooking the Szechuan Dry-Fried String Beans for about an hour, until they are truly shriveled and dry-fried.
Regardless, I plan to cook up a pot of Hot & Sour Soup as soon as the heat abates here in the DC area.
John – I’ve used a few of Mrs. Chiang’s recipes too, though 1 hour for shriveling green beans seems like a long time. You can get them really shriveled in under 30 minutes if you use a ton of oil
I LOVE this soup, but living in Japan you can’t find it anywhere. It’s as good as my Chinese mom’s soup! I just finished making it and it’s delicious (too bad I can’t read Japanese well enough to find lily buds though).
I was using this recipe again tonight and I realized you put the sesame oil in with the vinegar. My mom always taught me that sesame oil breaks down very easily and should always be put in as the last thing, often after you turn off the fire. I followed her advice tonight and found it was true! The soup has a much richer flavor than the last time I made it.
Cheers!
When I went to China several years ago, my uncle ordered hot and sour soup. Stark contrast to what I’m used to in America. It was clear water–not broth, and I couldn’t tell if the one piece of vegetable was mustard greens or something that look similar. I was very disappointed. Where’s the hot and sour? If hot was referring to the temperature of the soup, that failed too because I didn’t see steam and it didn’t burn my tongue.
Do you remember what part of China you were in? Hot and sour soup is mainly a Northern Chinese (Manchurian) or Sichuan dish. If you had it in Southeast China, Cantonese cooks probably altered it to suit local palates, which favor lighter flavors.
My teacher insists it has to have chicken or it is not genuine. He adds that most restaurants leave out the chicken to save money but when he dines out in beijing he sends the soup back if it doesn’t have chicken in it. I like it with chicken myself.
fwiw
I think it would be great if you added Mandarin and/or Cantonese names for the ingredients and dishes. I’m going to go out to the market today and find these, it should make a good B-day present for someone :)
Mandarin names for some ingredients:
Wood ear: mu4er3 木耳
lily buds: hua1cai4 花菜 (This might be local dialect)
Bamboo Shoots: zhu2sun3 竹笋
Cornstarch: yu4mi3 dian4fen3 玉米淀粉
Great soup, but one small error in the recipe, I think?
In your description of the soup, you caution to add the egg after the vinegar, but the opposite instruction appears in the recipe. I added vinegar, then egg, then seasoned with sesame oil and pepper and it seemed to work fine!
Sorry, I see that this was corrected last November. But when I first pulled up the recipe today, the recipe was incorrect and I didn’t see any comments since last August. After I posted, I saw that many comments had been entered since August and the recipe had been fixed. Can’t explain it!
I’m assuming when you’re supposed to bring ‘water’ to boil, you mean the chicken/vegetable broth? This sounds so good, and I’ve been hankering for a good hot and sour soup for ages. :x