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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
mins
Cook Time
20
minutes
mins
Total Time
30
minutes
mins
Course
Soup
Cuisine
Chinese
Servings
8
people
Print Recipe
Ingredients
1x
2x
3x
250
grams
pork shoulder
with a generous amount of fat!
6 to 8
fresh
shiitake
¼
cup
dried black fungus
soaked in warm water for at least 20 minutes
3
cloves
garlic
1
two-inch knob
ginger
2
bird's eye chilies
1
carrot
150
grams
soft tofu
2
tablespoons
cooking oil
¼
teaspoon
Chinese five-spice powder
8
cups
bone broth
divided
3
tablespoons
soy sauce
salt
if your bone broth is under-salted
¼
teaspoon
sugar
2
tablespoons
tapioca starch
or corn starch (use more for a thicker soup)
2
tablespoons
Chinese black vinegar
sliced scallions
to garnish
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