Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

hot & sour soup

Recipe by
Lee Thayer
Nakhon Si Thammarat

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! Have everything prepped as this will come together quickly. The key to getting the egg cooked is turn off the heat and leave on the burner, and do NOT use a whisk.

yield 4 servings
prep time 10 Min
cook time 5 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For hot & sour soup

  • 250 g
    white button mushrooms, (8 oz)
  • 250 g
    soft tofu, (8 oz)
  • 2 Tbsp
    cornstarch
  • 3 Tbsp
    cold water
  • 1
    egg
  • 3 Tbsp
    soy sauce
  • 1 tsp
    dark soy sauce
  • 2 1/2 Tbsp
    rice vinegar
  • 2 c
    chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 c
    water
  • white pepper, as desired
  • chili oil, optional
  • red pepper flakes, optional

How To Make hot & sour soup

  • 1
    Prep the mushrooms by cutting off the stems and quarter the caps. Prep the tofu by slicing it into strips. (If no tofu on hand, simply omit, I just used the mushrooms.)
  • 2
    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.
  • 3
    Next, in a small bowl, add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and rice vinegar, stir to mix. Set this aside.
  • 4
    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.)
  • 5
    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.
  • 6
    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.
  • Hot & Sour Soup.
    7
    Now the soup is done, ladle into bowls and serve.
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