Authentic Hot And Sour Soup

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Authentic Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣汤)

Authentic hot and soup tastes fragrant, spicy and sour – hence the name! The soup is made with ingredients such as silky tofu, bamboo, mushrooms, eggs, vinegar, and white pepper. Hot and sour soup, known as suan la tang 酸辣汤 in Chinese, originated in China and has now become a favorite soup around the world.

The first time I tried this dish was at my family’s Chinese restaurant. After I drank it, the soup opened my appetite and also warmed me up (spice is from the hot sauce and white pepper!). This recipe is from my uncle that served this same exact dish at his Chinese restaurant many years ago. Usually, pork and and chicken is added to the hot and sour soup. However, we made this recipe vegetarian, which tastes just as delicious as the meat version in my opinion. Lastly, my uncle’s secret ingredient for this vegetarian hot and soup is to add dried mandarin peel and lily flower for fragrant flavor!

Food substitutions

Some of the ingredients may be hard to find if you don’t have a Chinese grocery store near you. I listed some substitutions below if you don’t have the ingredients:

• You can sub the dried lily flower with enoki mushrooms or omit. The texture of the dried lily flower is slightly chewy and fragrant. I highly recommend to have it if you want to make authentic hot and sour soup.

• An alternative to the wood ear mushroom is shiitake mushrooms or any mushroom you have on hand.

• An alternative to dried orange peel is to add 1 tablespoon of fresh orange zest. If you don’t have either of these, I would omit the dried mandarin peel in the soup. Omitting this ingredient would lose a slight citrus taste in the soup.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR YOUR HOT AND SOUR SOUP:

• ¼ cup dried lily flower (edible flower of the daylily plant. it is known for their delicate & earthy flavor) – see substitutions
• ¼ cup dried wood ear mushroom – see substitutions
• ½ piece dried mandarin peel – see substitutions
• 1 cup bamboo shoots
• ½ package soft tofu
• 7 cups water
• ⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce
• ¼ cup dark soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoon mushroom bouillon
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1.5 tablespoon sriracha hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon white pepper (adjust according to your spice tolerance)
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• corn starch slurry (2 tbs corn starch + ¼ cup water)
• 2 eggs, beaten

How to make hot and sour soup:

1. Soak wood ear mushrooms, lily flowers, and the mandarin peel for 30 minutes to 1 hour. After soaking they should fluff up. Give them a rinse. Slice the mushroom and flowers thinly. Make sure to slice the mandarin peel very thinly!
2. Slice the tofu in strips. Set aside.
3. In a large pot, boil 7 cups of water on medium-high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the wood ear mushrooms, lily flowers, mandarin peel, tofu, and bamboo shoots. Cook for 5 minutes.
4. While the soup is cooking, beat two eggs and set aside. Make corn starch slurry by mixing 2 tablespoons of corn starch with ¼ cup water and set aside.
5. Start adding flavor to the soup. Add ⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce, ¼ cup dark soy sauce, 1.5 tablespoon mushroom bouillon, 2 tablespoon sugar, 1.5 tablespoon sriracha hot sauce, 1 tablespoon white pepper (adjust according to your spice tolerance), ¾ cup white vinegar, and 3 tablespoons sesame oil. Mix everything together and cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Mix cornstarch slurry and slowly add in the soup. Continue to stir while adding.
7. Add beaten eggs to the soup and continue to stir while adding.
8. Serve while hot. Hope you enjoy!

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