WOW! Did this little experiment turn out great! The soup has layers and layers of flavor! I was just trying to use up some leftover pork roast slices and some baked chicken before it went bad. I had most ingredients for a good soup and this looked promising. I have started using “Better Than Bouillon-Organic” for some of my soups and other dishes like this. I just decided that I can’t make enough homemade broth to fix all the dishes throughout the year that I want to make with broth. This fills the bill and besides being a little murky when it first is put into a dish, comes out fine at the end. Just look at the picture of the soup-the broth is pretty clear. Oh, those chopsticks they give you with takeout Chinese food? Keep them, they are great for using in Chinese soup prep. This goes together pretty fast once you get going. (You can use water or vegetable broth and leave out the pork/chicken and add some lily buds and have a nice vegetarian variation)
Hot and Sour Soup
Serves about 6 bowls
6 C water + 1 1/2 T Better Than Bouillon Chicken Flavor OR 6 C Chicken Broth (homemade or prepared)
1/2-3/4 C cooked pork/chicken sliced and diced
1/2 C dried shitake mushrooms
1/4 C dried black fungus (aka wood ear or cloud ear or tree ear or black mushrooms usually sliced thin and dried)
1/2 C bamboo shoots, drained and sliced in strips (I used canned)
a pinch or two of Dried Bonito Flakes
1″ fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 package firm tofu, drained and diced (about 4 oz)
(I also added 1 lime leaf + 1 star anise pod)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1-3 T corn starch dissolved in 1/2 C cold water
Sauce to start with:
2 T soy or tamari sauce (I used tamari)
1/2 C Chinese black vinegar
2 T rice vinegar (I used brown rice vinegar)
2 tsp sesame oil (I used 1 T sesame oil + 1 T roasted sesame oil)
1 tsp freshly ground white pepper (I used 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper + 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce)
First place the dried shitakes and black fungus in a bowl and pour boiling water on them. Let sit for 20-30 minutes then drain. (I added the liquid to the soup) Mix together the soy/tamari, vinegar, sesame oil and peppers and let sit for awhile for flavors to meld.
Bring the water/bouillion or broth to a boil, add pork/chicken, shitakes, fungus, bamboo shoots, ginger, bonito flakes, lime leaf, star anise pod and tofu and turn down heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, then gently stir in eggs with chopsticks. You want the eggs to be in clumps and strings. Add the corn starch slurry ( I used the chopsticks to incorporate the water into the corn starch) to thicken the soup. (I added the corn starch 1 T at a time in about 1-2 T cold water until I got the consistency I wanted). You do need to thicken the soup before you add the vinegar mixture because it won’t thicken as well afterwards.
When you get the thickness you want, add the soy/vinegar/sesame oil/ pepper mixture and stir. Let simmer for about 15 minutes and taste. Add more vinegar or oil or pepper or chili garlic sauce (the rooster kind) to your taste until the soup is balanced-hot and sour.
P.S. It really tastes good the next day! 
12 Comments
I love Hot and Sour soup, but it’s been years since I had a good one. As soon as I get over my liver kick
I’ll try this. Nice!
Is it still cool there? It’s already too warm here to do too much indoor cooking. I’m planning on getting a new grill next payday.
We’ve gone thru cool/cold, cool/warm days. I’m sitting here in a light jacket and long pants & long sleeve shirt. Usually 50-60′s day and 40-50 nights. It’s been sunny the past few days, but let that sun go behind a cloud and it gets cool fast!
I’ve gotten on an Asian food kick lately and this really was good. It really doesn’t take too long to fix and it really is better the next day.
I saw the funniest post the other day about razor clam sushi rolls! I’m going to try and make them since we have some leftover from out dig in April.
Yea. We’re still getting chilly … but not long enough to heat the house up cooking something. Most days, tho, we’re warm, although we’re coolish today.
I just went out and mowed (with my crummy push mower, putting all my neighbors and their riders to shame
) – also had a realization, which is that the guy who came by wanting to help me mow for a mere $20 a shot (I told him sure, once a month I could do that) never came back by because he needed to use my equipment and … I don’t have a riding mower.
What is this world coming to when people can’t do a little push mowing??
In any case, it was a bit cool, but not much.
I can’t wait to go back on an Asian food kick. It’s been over a year for me. That and Indian food were about the only things I made for a few years, it seems. I kind of miss them, but I keep getting sidetracked – like with liver now!
P.S. What is your liver kick? Where did you find good liver and how do you fix it???? Inquiring minds…..
Now, let me say here, when it comes to staples, it’s MISERABLE here – way too expensive, hard to find, etc.
When it comes to meats and veggies and nuts, tho – easy and cheap!
I discovered a local store that sells wonderful calves’ liver thinly sliced. I haven’t really eaten it since I was a teenager, and oh, it’s good.
I haven’t made liver and onions yet because I’m stuck on heating that pan as hot as I can get it, putting a bit of EVOO in it, swirling it around, tossing that thin sliced liver in, giving it MAYBE 30 secs, then flipping it and waiting MAYBE 30 secs, then serving naked. With nothing else but a slight smattering of salt.
Perfection.
This week, I’m going to get some cognac or brandy and try simmering it in it for just a few, just long enough to burn off the alcohol.
DROOL!!!!! I may have to butcher a cow myself!
It’s surprisingly good! I’d forgotten how good liver can be!
Oh, man. I love hot and sour soup, but I would rather go to my local Chinese place and let them make it for me.
Tonight… absolute perfection. We went to the farmer’s market yesterday and got a dozen ears of Silver Queen corn and a pound of fresh pinto beans. I grilled the corn and just simmered the beans in chicken broth (made from the free-range heritage chickens I got a month ago from the farm) for about half an hour, swirled in a little butter, and ate WAY TOO MUCH!
I also roasted two chickens but pigged out on the corn and beans and didn’t even touch them.
Two more free-range chickens on the grill now, for later in the week. Not to mention the duck, who is still sitting in my fridge waiting his turn. That will have to be tomorrow. I’m out of energy tonight.
You all have so much energy! Going to Farmer’s Markets, grilling chickens, making soup. I’m jealous.
I’m headed out of town tomorrow – going up to Rochester, Minnesota to visit with my sister and to get a second (third? fourth?) opinion at Mayo Clinic.
Needless to say things are not going well for me on the medical front, and I’m feeling pretty tired and weak. I’ll just soak up all ya’all’s energy through cyberspace, and enjoy the dee-lishious stuff vicariously.
Back on Thursday…
drchelo, let us know how it goes in Rochester.
I send with you all of my best thoughts, feelings, prayers and downright good vibes.
My dear, I send you all our best. We will keep you in our thoughts.
Peace Be To You-and Energy!
Please let us know if there is anything we can do. The healing thoughts seem so inadequate, somehow.
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