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Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Chilies, ginger and Chinese black vinegar are the essential ingredients to give hot and sour soup its distinctive flavor.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Cut the pork into thin slices; cut each slice into slivers about ¼ inch wide.
  • Pull off and discard the stems of the shiitake mushrooms. Thinly slice the caps.
  • Thinly slice the black fungus.
  • Peel and mince the garlic.
  • Peel and grate the ginger.
  • Chop the chili.
  • Peel and julienne the carrot (note that bamboo shoot is the traditional vegetable for hot and sour soup, but I like carrot better).
  • Cut the soft tofu into half-inch cubes.
  • Heat the cooking oil in a pot.
  • Saute the ginger, garlic and chili with the five-spice powder in the hot oil until lightly browned.
  • Add the pork to the pot and cook until lightly browned.
  • Add the shiitake to the pork.
  • Pour in seven cups bone broth and the soy sauce. Stir in the sugar. Bring to the boil. Lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Disperse the corn starch in the remaining broth and pour into the pot. Stir until the broth is thick and clear.
  • Add the tofu cubes, black fungus and julienned carrot to the soup. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes
  • Turn off the heat and stir in the black vinegar. Taste. Add more salt if necessary (adding more soy sauce will make the soup too dark).
  • Garnish the hot and sour soup with scallions and serve at once.

Notes

Updated from a recipe originally published in February 9, 2018
Keyword Spicy