Hot & Sour Soup

This is a Chinese soup and comes from a friend who is Chinese Malay, and it comes touted as the best and easiest, and it certainly is! I made this on 5 Sep 2022, and the family absolutely loved this! Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Total Time 15

Course Side

Cuisine Chinese

Servings servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons corn starch, for the slurry
3 tablespoons cold water, for the slurry
2 cups chicken broth, fresh or from powder, Shortcut
1½ cups water
250 grams soft tofu, cut into strips, (8 oz)
250 grams fresh white button mushrooms, (8 oz)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2½ tablespoons rice vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, mainly for color
3 dashes white pepper powder, or to taste
1 egg, beaten
chili oil, for spiciness, optional, to taste
red pepper flakes, for spiciness, optional, to taste

Instructions

Prep the mushrooms by cutting off the stems and quarter the caps.
Next, we need to make the thickening slurry, mix the corn starch with the 3 tablespoons of cold water until well blended and no lumps. In another bowl, beat the egg. Set both of these aside.
Next, in a small bowl, add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rice vinegar, stir to mix. Set this aside.
In a large sauce pan, add the broth and 1½ cups water, bring to a boil then add the mushrooms and tofu and let boil for 2 minutes. (I did not have tofu on hand and simply omitted that, still worked perfectly.)
Stir the soy sauce mixture into the soup, and season with a few dashes of white pepper or to taste. Give the slurry another stir then stir that into the soup, continue stirring until just slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat but leave on the same burner.
Now gently stir the soup in one direction, and pour the beaten egg into soup in a gently stir and count to 10. Then using the handle end of a spoon or fork, or a pair of chop sticks, stir the soup in the same direction for 3 complete circular motions, this makes the nice egg threads in the soup. Season to taste with chili oil or flakes if desired.
Now the soup is done, ladle into bowls and serve.