Hot and Sour Soup

Soup
Growing up eating Chinese food on Sunday evenings I always ordered a hot and sour soup.  It is one of my favorites.  Joanne Chang's Hot and Sour soup recipe appeared in my Food52 feed over vacation and I made a mental note to remember it when I got home.  

I have been totally under the weather since returning from vacation.  Could be the man who sat in front of us on one of our flights who coughed so intensely and loudly I was concerned he had something really bad.  The entire plane was talking about it when we got off.  So not ok to get on a plane and get everyone else sick.  I have had a nasty cold with aches and pain including a stomach thing and in turn sleeping at night is not easy.  Fred appears to have just caught it too.  Ugh.  So instead of hitting the movies we have been lounging on the couch.  I had us the hot and sour soup for lunch.  It could not have been easier.  

Here is the recipe pretty much straight from the site.  

  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
  • 4 scallions, white and green parts, minced, plus more for garnish
  • 8 ounces ground pork
  • 4 cups store-bought or homemade chicken stock
  • 1  ound soft or firm tofu (not silken and not extra firm), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 4 or 5 medium button mushrooms, wiped clean and thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cups rice vinegar, or to taste
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil, plus more for garnish
  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce, or to taste
  • 2 large eggs
  • White or black pepper for garnish
  1. In the saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add the ginger, scallions, and pork and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute. You want to break up the pork into smaller pieces with a spoon, but don’t worry about breaking it down completely or cooking it through.
  2. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the tofu, mushrooms, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper, sesame oil, and Sriracha sauce and bring the soup back to a simmer over medium-high heat. Taste the soup. If you want it hotter, add more Sriracha sauce; if you want it more sour, add more vinegar.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. With the soup at a steady simmer, slowly whisk in the eggs so they form strands. Bring the soup back to a simmer. Divide the soup among 4 to 6 bowls and garnish each with a little sesame oil, scallion, and white or black pepper. Serve immediately. 

 

Comments (Archived):

  1. ellen

    you are suppose to rest not cook. Don’t just blame the passengers but also blame the airline for not changing their filters. My girlfriend is a flight attendant and she says they never change the big filters. They are filthy.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Yikes

  2. pointsnfigures

    Love this, and egg drop soup! Be well.

  3. Brandon Burns

    I’m a bit sick today, so I’m curled up on the sofa after having made a batch of this. Awesome recipe.I’m trying to adhere to the paleo diet (no grains, including soy, and no dairy, beans or refined sugars), so I substituted the tofu for eggplant, tamari for soy sauce, a the juice from half an orange for the sugar. Also went for a chicken breast instead of the pork. All in all, extremely delicious.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Yum