Quick Hot and Sour Soup

Bah, cold, rain, fits of snow. This weather makes me want to curl up in bed.

What I need is soup to warm my belly, and put a bit of fire in my blood, and more than a bit of sour in my attitude.. (And this is different for any other day, how?)

Hot and Sour soup is the ticket, but my local Asian restaurants are less than world-class, so I shall have to concoct my own and possibly create a better bowl.

From Wikipedia:

Soup preparation may use chicken or pork broth, or may be meat-free. Common key ingredients in the American Chinese version include bamboo shoots, toasted sesame oil, wood ear, cloud ear fungus, day lily buds, vinegar, egg, corn starch, and white pepper. Other ingredients include button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, or straw mushrooms and small slices of tofu skin. It is comparatively thicker than the Chinese cuisine versions due to the addition of cornstarch. This soup is usually considered a healthy option at most Chinese establishments and, other than being high in sodium, is a very healthy soup overall.

Hot and Sour Soup

Classic Chinese take out, but at home.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Lunch, Soup

Cuisine Asian, Chinese

Servings 4 people

Calories 158 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 6 cups Broth Chicken or Veggie
• 6 oz Cremini Mushrooms Cleaned, thin sliced
• 6 tbsp Rice Vinegar
• 6 tbsp Soy Sauce Low Sodium
• 2 tsp Grated Ginger
• 1 tsp Sambal Oelek
• 6 tbsp Cornstarch
• 1 ea Egg Jumbo Whisked
• 6 oz Tofu Firm, pressed, cubed to 1/2"
• 4 ea Scallions Washed, sliced thin
• 2 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
• Salt / Pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Whisk 1/4 cup broth, with corn starch, set aside
• In a lare pot over medium-high heat, add broth, mushrooms, ginger, sambol, vinegar, and soy
• Whence soup begins to simmer, rewhisk cornstatch and whisk into soup, simmeerfor 1-2 minutes until slighly thickened
• Stir soup with a clockwise motion and drizzle in eggs in a thin drizzle.
• Add teh tofu, sesame oil, and scallions
• Taste, season, balance flavor. Add Sambal for spice, vinegar for sour
• Serve hot

Notes

A quick and dirty hot and sour soup can go vegetarian using veggie broth, or one can use chicken stock and possibly add shredded roast chicken.

If you like the egg ribbons, feel free to use 2 eggs rather than one.  

This, like many of my recipes, is a general guideline, do experiment.

Like including washed thin-sliced Thai peppers with the base soup.

Nutrition

Calories: 158kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 8gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 2927mgPotassium: 187mgFiber: 2gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 751IUCalcium: 59mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Hot, Soup, Sour

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