Recently, my husband and I visited a local Asian restaurant one afternoon to enjoy some sushi (though he says my choice of sushi is not real sushi as I will not eat anything that isn't cooked). As part of the lunch special, we were given a choice of Miso soup or Hot and Sour Soup. I'd never had Hot and Sour Soup so I opted for that and loved it. Of course, we cannot afford to go out for sushi all the time so for Christmas I bought my husband everything he needed to make sushi at home. The only problem was, I wanted the Hot and Sour Soup to go along with it. So began my mission to find a recipe that resembled what our local restaurant served. After surfing around the web and reading several recipes, I decided to try a recipe by Tyler Florence from Food Network as I have had great success with the recipes of his I have tried. Surprising enough, this is the first Hot and Sour Soup recipe I tried and I think this is very similar to what we had that day. It's close enough that I'm happy with it.
Here's what you'll need
8 oz Shiitake mushrooms (I used fresh; however, you can find dried and reconstitute them with water)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbsp chile paste
1 can bamboo shoots, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
2 quart chicken stock (the recipe called for Chinese chicken stock, but I used a low fat type I had on hand)
1/2 square firm tofu (I used lite firm tofu and couldn't taste a difference)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Fresh cilantro for garnishing
Here's what you'll need
8 oz Shiitake mushrooms (I used fresh; however, you can find dried and reconstitute them with water)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbsp chile paste
1 can bamboo shoots, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
2 quart chicken stock (the recipe called for Chinese chicken stock, but I used a low fat type I had on hand)
1/2 square firm tofu (I used lite firm tofu and couldn't taste a difference)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Fresh cilantro for garnishing
First begin by preparing the mushrooms, tofu, and ginger. If you are using dried mushrooms, reconstitute the mushrooms with boiling water per the directions on the package. Chop the mushrooms and tofu into bite size pieces. Grate the ginger.
In a large stock pot, heat oil then add chile paste, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. Sautee for 1 minute to infuse everything with flavor.
As your vegetables are sautéing, in a small measuring cup combine soy, vinegar, sugar, and white pepper.
Add soy mixture to vegetable mixture. Simmer.
Add chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. Mix well until lumps have dissolved.
Beat egg.
Stir in tofu and boil 3 minutes. Add cornstarch and stir until thickened. After soup has reached desired consistency, begin stirring soup in one direction to create current. Remove your spoon and slowly pour the eggs into the soup in a steady stream. The egg will cook and feather out into the broth.
Top with fresh cilantro and serve immediately. This one has some kick, so if you don't like things with a lot of "heat" to them, you may opt to reduce the amount of chile past you add. You'll definitely want a fair amount of beverage for this one.
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