Recipes
Chef Stef's favoritesHot and Sour Soup(Featured Chef Stef)
Super easy
Cheap
11 ingredients and can be ready to enjoy in 15-20 minutes once prepped!
Prep
Cook
Wait
5m
| Category: | Soups Low Carb |
| Seasons | |
| Cuisine Type | Chinese |
| Tags: |
Ingredients
For
4
Person(s)
Soup Mix
| 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth |
| 4 tablespoons soy sauce |
| 1 teaspoon white pepper |
| 1 package sliced shitake mushrooms |
| 1 tablespoon mushroom bullion |
| 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar |
| 2 tablespoons cornstarch |
| 1 whole egg lightly beaten |
| 1/2 package firm tofu in cubes, drained, and dried |
| 4 scallion thinly sliced |
| 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger |
Hot and Sour Soup Directions
- In a large pot, combine broth, soy sauce, bullion, and white pepper
- Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add mushrooms; reduce heat, and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in tofu and most of the green onions. Simmer 5 more minutes.
- In a small bowl, make a slurry by whisking together 3 tablespoons cold rice vinegar and cornstarch.
- Add the slurry slowly to the soup and bring back to a boil, stirring, until soup is thickened, about 1 minute
- Add egg through a slotted spoon, and stir to form ribbons, or start stirring and then add beaten egg to form ribbons.
- Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 1 minute. Put ginger in a small sieve, and squeeze to release juice into soup (discard solids).
- Serve garnished with remainder of scallions
Recipe notes
- Slurries are activated when they boil, so when it comes time to add your slurry, it’s important to bring it back to a boil
- Slurries can be made with any liquid, but the liquid needs to be cold to avoid clumping.
- For this recipe, I put my rice vinegar in the refrigerator about an hour before I start the soup. Most recipes use water or broth for a slurry, but using the rice vinegar seems to work double duty. It thickens and flavors at the same time.
- Make sure the tofu is very dry - I wrap it in paper towels and put a weighted pan on it for an hour before making the soup, sometimes even changing the paper towels out more than once
- To cut the tofu - turn tofu on its side and make two cuts all the way down the tofu so you have 3 thin pieces; stack the pieces on top of each other, and then cut vertically, and then horizontally to make cubes.
- The white pepper is what makes it hot, and the rice vinegar is what makes it sour – many people think that it’s a chili oil or other spice that gives it the spiciness, but it’s really 1 teaspoon of white pepper
- If you make this soup often, or use ginger regularly, grate a bunch of it and keep it in the freezer in saran wrap – this is a major time saver!
Reviews 5/5
Chris
21 Oct 2022This is great! ...I'm looking forward to making this on one of these cold winter evenings.
Chris
21 Apr 2021This is great! ...I'm looking forward to making this on one of these cold winter evenings.
John
17 Dec 2020Wow, great recipe! Family loved it.