Authentic Hot and Sour Soup

This may look like a long recipe & could seem a little overwhelming, but once you cut everything up, it only takes 30 mins to put the soup together & it's done! The recipe looks long, because I do a lot of explaining as I go.

Authentic  Hot and Sour Soup

If you're one of those people who have not tried Hot & Sour Soup, you should really give it a try. I've eaten Chinese food all my life but had never tried this soup until the 90's when friends took us to a special Chinese restaurant in Louisville, KY. I still think of it as the best Hot & Sour Soup I've ever tasted. Since then, I haven't found soup that even compared to the 1 in Louisville.

Disappointed, I set out to look for a good recipe. Most of my friends know, that not only do I crochet, but I like to cook as well. In fact, I may have as many cookbooks as crochet books. Even though I still look at cookbooks, I'm a huge Pinterest fan too. I probably have as many recipe boards as I do crochet boards. I looked at many Hot & Sour Soup recipes there (+ YouTube) trying to find 1 that had the most authentic ingredients. As usual, I didn't find any 1 recipe, but took ingredients from several recipes & I'm happy with the results. I hope you enjoy it!

Note: please read the entire recipe before purchasing your ingredients, because I give tips that are important. I've done all the research for you, which took me days or weeks of searching, to come up with what I think is the best soup.

 

Mary Jane's Authentic Hot and Sour Soup

Authentic Hot and Sour Soup  (Mary Jane's recipe)

Ingredients

* 1 - 1 ½ cups pork loin or chicken, cut into small pieces (this is even good with no meat!) See instructions below for marinating (+ ingredients)

* 8 oz pkg shiitake mushrooms, sliced
Note: You can buy the fresh at Kroger -or- the dried shiitake mushrooms at an Asian grocery store. I have used both, but if you use dried let them soak 8 hours. If you dont have that much time, soak them in hot boiling water to speed up the process. An advantage of the dried is that they will keep forever and the bag is enough for 3 big pots of the soup.

* 8 oz pkg white button mushrooms, sliced

* 8 cups chicken broth or stock

* 1 cans water chestnuts, sliced and cut ¼ - ⅓ " wide

* 20 - 30 strands dried Lily Buds (from the Asian grocery store or online) This is what they look like. They will also have to be soaked in water.

* 1 cup wood ear mushrooms, dried, also called black fungus (Asian grocery store or online) This is what they look like when they're sliced. You can buy them whole but I buy them already slicked. These will have to be soaked also.

* 1 can sliced bamboo shoots, cut matchstick size

* ¾ - 1 cup grated or julienned carrots

* 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated (or ¼ - ½ tsp powdered ginger)

* 1-2 tsps fresh garlic, chopped  (or you could use ½ tsp garlic powder)

* 1-2 tsps SAMBAL OELEK

which is Ground Fresh Chili Paste (you can find the small jar, with a gold label, at most grocery stores in the Asian section for about $2)* 2 Tbs Chinese Shaohsing Wine (if you don't have this, skip it)

* 1 tsp sugar

* Cornstarch slurry (3 Tbs cornstarch & 3 Tbs water)

* 1-2 cups firm tofu, cut into small squares (I dont always use this)

* 2 - 3 eggs, whisked into a small bowl

Seasonings- Next 4 ingredients are added at the end, after you've added the eggs and turned off the heat:

* 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or GF coconut aminos) I bought GF soy sauce at the Asian grocery store but Kroger carries it too. (There's a difference between light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. The dark is sweeter and less salty than the light)

* 3 Tb Chinese black vinegar OR rice vinegar (or combination of both) Add more vinegar if soup doesn't taste sour enough.

* ¼ - ½ tsp ground white pepper, (this gives heat)

* 2 tsp Toasted sesame oil (this is the most important ingredient to me and it has to say "toasted" on the front, or it won't be good. I use up to 2 Tbss myself, because that's what gives it an authentic taste.

* Green onions, chopped (as topping to each bowl)N

NOTE: See more ingredients (below) for marinating the meat.

*Where to buy the Ingredients*

You can find most ingredients at a grocery store, but the wood ear mushrooms & Lily buds, Shaohsing wine & black vinegar at an Asian store Amazon. Click the links to can see what ingredient looks like. Authentic Hot & Sour soup calls for Chinese black vinegar but If you want to use Rice vinegar, that's fine. You wouldn't use ithe black much anyway. 

Preparation

Give yourself plenty of time to cut up ingredients, ahead of time. You'll need to marinate the meat & soak the dried Shiitake mushrooms, Wood Ear mushrooms & Lily buds. After Lily buds & mushrooms are soaked, cut them in smaller pieces. If you wait to cut up ingredients as you go, you'll get way too stressed. Once everythings cut up, the rest is easy & takes only 30 mins!

Soak Lily buds & wood ear mushrooms in very hot water for at least an hour; save liquid to add to cornstarch for thickening later.

Cut up the meat & place in bowl to marinate 30 mins - 2 hrs. You can skip the marinating of you don't have time - it'll be fine.

Marinate Liquid: (these ingredients & measurements are NOT listed above)

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp Shaohsing wine

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp vinegar

Whisk ingredients together; stir into bowl with meat.

Cut up following ingredients; place in small bowls. (chestnuts & shoots same bowl). Slice shiitake & button mushrooms. Cut up carrots, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, green onions, tofu & set aside. If you want, you can put all liquids in 1 bowl, then put in pot when it's time, at once. I measure liquids ahead of time, making it quick & easy.

*Note: read below, before you start, how I add everything. If you want to add all ingredients at once, without sauteing meat & veggies, that's ok. It's a little quicker & still tastes great.

Hot and Sour Soup

After meat has marinated, saute it in a large pot with 2-3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil til partially cooked. Set meat aside to add to soup later. Add veggies (carrots, ginger, garlic, mushrooms) adding more oil if needed. Stir fry a few mins, then add bamboo shoots & water chestnuts.

Add: chicken broth & Sambal Oelek to pot; stir. Add cornstarch slurry & stir. Now gently stir in tofu.

Next drizzle in whisked raw eggs & stir gently around slowly forkt, making ribbons.

Turn off burner & add the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine & sesame oil.

Next, add the white pepper, which helps give it an authentic taste, but it is also part of what makes the soup hot, so just add a little at a time, tasting it. I like the soup hot, but you may not like it as hot as I do. If there's someone in your family who doesn't like hot foods, you can always add less Sambal Oelek (chili paste) & white pepper, but add more of those things to your own bowl of soup.

Taste soup to see if you need more vinegar for sourness, & more chili paste if it's not hot enough. If it needs more soy sauce (for saltiness), you can add a little more of that or you might choose to add a little more chicken broth (or instant with water, like I do). Let simmer for few more mins.

If the soup tastes like you want it to, serve up in bowls & add green onions to top. I usually put the Sambal Oelek & white pepper on the table for those who like it extra hot. Sometimes I go to a Chinese restaurant ahead of time, and buy some of the crispy noodles to serve with the soup.

A cool thing to do is have a Chinese dinner and serve the soup in Chinese bowls and spoons you can buy at the Asian grocery store. The name of the one I go to in Dayton, Ohio is  called Far East Center at 116 Woodman Dr in Airway Plaza, next to the China Garden Buffet.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Please contact me if you have any questions!