Authentic Hot And Sour Soup Recipe [酸辣汤]

Hi everyone, today I want to share you my hot and sour soup recipe. It is a very comfy soup and popular in north of china. The main flavor of this dish is hot and sour which come from the use of white and Chinese black vinegar.
If you want to know more details, here is the video link: [https://youtu.be/D78r9jvLliA]

**Main Ingredients**
* 2 pieces of dried shitake mushroom
* few pieces of dried black fungus
* 3.5 ounces of shredded pork (marinate with 2 tsp of soy sauce +2 tsp of cornstarch)
* 5 ounces of silken or soft tofu, cut it into thin shreds
* 2 beaten eggs
* 1/3 cups of shredded carrot
* 1/2 tbsp of minced ginger
**Season to add early**
* 2 tbsp of cornstarch
* 2 tbsp of water
* 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce
* 1 tsp of dark soy sauce
* 1 tsp of sugar
* 1 tsp of Salt or to taste
**Ingredients to add before turning off the heat**
* 1-3 tsp of white peppercorn
* 3 tbsp of Chinese black vinegar
**Ingredients to add before serving**
* 1 tsp of sesame oil
* cilantro and spring onion for garnish
**INSTRUCTION**
* This recipe needs a lot of preparation before cooking. I will explain them one by one. First. Let’s take a look at our main ingredients
* Soak 2 pieces of dried shitake mushrooms for 4 hours until they are completely re-hydrated. Dried mushroom is the way how you keep this dish authentic. It is more flavorful and smells better than the fresh mushroom. Squeeze the water and slice them thinly. You can find the dried shitake mushroom in most Asian markets and usually 1 package will last you forever.
* Do the same thing with dried black fungus. Just a few pieces are enough. They expand a lot in size. I got about 1/3 cup of it after it is re-hydrated. If you don’t have it, you can use the same amount of kelp.
* Marinate 3.5 ounces of pork slices with 2 tsp of soy sauce and 2 tsp of cornstarch for 15 minutes. You can use pork loin, pork butt. Just cut it into these thin shreds. It is a very simple marinade, just to give the pork a little extra flavor.
* Cut 5 ounces of silken or soft tofu into shreds.
* Beat 2 eggs and set it aside.
* Cut some carrot into thin shreds. About 1/3 cup. It will give the soup a bright color.
* Next, let’s combine some seasoning together: 2 tbsp of cornstarch, 2 tbsp of water, mix it until you don’t see any lumps. Then add 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of Salt or to taste. Mix until everything is well combined. These are the Seasonings that you need to add to the soup earlier. Set it aside.
* In a separate sauce bowl, combine 1-3 tsp of white pepper and 3 tbsp of Chinese black vinegar together. This dish was created for the poor people to warm themselves up and survive through the winter…which is the purpose of using white pepper. But now most restaurants they lower the amount because it is not a pleasant feeling if your mouth is burning. My suggestion is if you serve kids, 1 tsp probably is enough. If you want to try the authentic hot and sour soup, go with the big amount. For the black vinegar, make sure you use a Chinese brand. The package will say Chencu (陈醋)or Xiangcu (香醋). You could use rice vinegar but you won’t be able to get that authentic Chinese taste. Also, make sure you mix them until the pepper is fully distributed. Or else you will have some white pepper lumps in the soup. Trust me, that does not taste good. These 2 ingredients (white pepper and Chinese black vinegar) you need to add to the soup right before turning off the heat. It is very important to follow the order. That is why made 2 different bowls of seasoning so I don’t get confused.
* Once you prepared all the ingredients, the rest of the step is so easy.
* Get your wok ready, don’t need to heat it up now. Just directly add in 1/2 tbsp of minced ginger, the re-hydrated mushroom, and black fungus. Follow up with the shredded carrot. Pour in 3.5 cups of stock (Chicken stock, beef stock, up to you). Give it a stir.
* Cover it and bring this to a boil. That is when you adding the pork. Stir it around so the meat doesn’t stick together. Give it about 10 seconds or so. The meat should change color. Then you add the tofu. Just slowly slide them into the wok. Use a wooden spoon, gently stir it and try not to break the tofu.
* Cover it and wait for it to come back to a boil. Pour in the first sauce we made. There is cornstarch in it so be sure to stir it before adding it to the wok. Also, you need to whisk the soup in the same time so the cornstarch can be evenly mixed into the broth.
* Then you just do the same thing to the egg. Some people don’t stir the egg so they can get large pieces of egg. I think stirring it makes the soup even silkier and I like the texture. What to do up to you.
* Cook this whole pot for another 30 seconds so all the ingredients can come together.
* Now you can add the second bowl of seasoning – white pepper and vinegar. They are the types of ingredient that the flavor will fade way if cook long time. That is why we add it 10 seconds before you turn off the heat.
* Before you serve, add a bunch of scallion and cilantro for garnish. Top 1.5 tsp of sesame oil for the nutty taste. And you are done. A nice warm soup for the winter.
Enjoy your meal! If you have any questions about the recipes, just post a comment, will help you out as soon as possible!
 
 
 
 

via Gfycat