Dinner Tonight: Easy Hot and Sour Soup
"For a quick meal on a gray and gloomy day, it's hard to beat this."
[Photograph: Nick Kindelsperger]
Truly authentic hot and sour soup, if such a thing exists, probably contains some ingredients that aren't super easy to track down in most local grocery stores. I mean, when was the last time you saw day lily buds, chinkiang vinegar, or wood ear fungus just hanging out on the shelves? No, for this batch I took the easy route.
This recipe from The Kitchn is good enough to make you forget about "the rules." It's a relaxing and warming soup, the kind that makes you relish the upcoming winter transition.
Hot and Sour soup is all about balance. The heat comes not from chiles, but from white or black pepper. The sour comes from a judicious pour of vinegar. The recipe calls for about three tablespoons but I added more to give the soup more zing. You can even crack some more pepper on top—it's really up to you to craft your perfect bite.
The body of the soup comes from a slurry of cornstarch and the late-in-the-game addition of a beaten egg. Both make the stock silky and rich. It's a quick trick that really works. Someday I'd like to get to a recipe like this one from Saveur, but for a quick meal on a gray and gloomy day, it's hard to beat this.
Easy Hot and Sour Soup
- serves 3 to 4 -
Adapted from The Kitchn.
Ingredients
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 package firm tofu, cut into 1 inch long by 1/4 inch thick strips
1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots, sliced into matchsticks
1/4 pound boneless pork, cut into 1/2 inch long by 1/4 inch wide strips
1 quart chicken stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
3 tablespoon white vinegar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sesame oil
1 scallion, minced
Procedure
1. Toss the mushrooms into a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside for a few minutes. Remove the mushrooms and slice thinly. Reserve the mushroom liquid.
2. Meanwhile, pour the chicken stock and soy sauce into a large pot along with the salt. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. When it reaches a boil, add the sliced mushrooms, the mushroom liquid, bamboo shoots, and pork. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Toss in the tofu, white pepper, and vinegar. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Whisk together the cornstarch with 4 tablespoons of cold water. When pot is boiling, add the cornstarch slurry and stir well until thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the egg. Stir gently until it is incorporated.
4. Serve the soup with a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkling of scallion.
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9 Comments:
Looks fine... except the color is wrong, then I see you used white vinegar?
Why not black?
And I don't see any kind of sweetener to make up for the lack of black vinegar. How about a bit of molasses or tamarind to add that deep complex sweet flavor missing with white vinegar?
peekpoke at 4:24PM on 10/28/09
Balsamic vinegar would be a more appropriate substitute to black vinegar. It has a similar flavor profile and acidity.
JungMan at 4:28PM on 10/28/09
*raises hand* my house has day lily buds, chinkiang vinegar and wood ear fungus. gotta love chinese moms. :]
Last time i made hot and sour soup, it was wonderful. I had all sorts of mushrooms/fungi (shiitake, wood ear, cloud ear, golden, king oyster) in the house. plus the lily buds, a can of bamboo shoots, dried-from-the-garden thai chilis, white pepper. So good.
I didnt add an egg, but it the pot was already so full, i didnt even think of it. :P
I should make more tonight!
engmcmuffin at 5:16PM on 10/28/09
I'm surprised no one has suggested it: rice wine vinegar would be a good substitute for the plain white vinegar. It's slightly sweet, and has that distinctly "generally Asian food" taste
ec_washington at 6:06PM on 10/28/09
We use rice vinegar.
CJ McD at 6:37PM on 10/28/09
Rice vinegar is an interesting idea and it'd have towork. I just was just following the recipe as is written in the Kitchn, and not wanting to screw things up. But I'll try that next time.
Is that really true about balsamic? That interests me to no end.
Nick Kindelsperger at 6:41PM on 10/28/09
Rice vinegar to me tastes like diluted white vinegar with a splash of sake added, very different flavor profile from black vinegar, bland, kind of yeasty toasty smelling, not sour enough.
I agree industrial balsamic (the stuff you buy at the supermarket) is sort of in the same direction as black vinegar. Real balsamic is not, it's far too sweet and thick.
peekpoke at 2:26AM on 10/29/09
@Nick, you definitely don't to use a fine, aged balsamic in lieu of black vinegar, but a decent mass marketed brand will give you enough complexity and sweetness (perhaps a touch more than you want) to replicate the flavor of black vinegar. Regular rice vinegar is sharper than black vinegar and wouldn't blend as well.
JungMan at 12:17PM on 10/29/09
Do you think that Kitchn recommended regular white vinegar because it would blend more easily into the dish? I can't honestly remember the last time I used white vinegar. Maybe its relative lack of taste and straightforwardness is suitable for this mission, when you just need that sharp shock. Obviously, it's not recommended when black vinegar is available.
Thanks everyone for the comments. This is fascinating.
Nick Kindelsperger at 12:27PM on 10/29/09