Hot & Sour soup is one of the most famous Chinese dishes. It's not very hard to make, but many people don't know that the hot/spicy part of the soup is not from chili pepper, but white pepper! Also, some people have a hard time making the soup sour enough, no matter how much rice vinegar they put in. The truth is, when you cook with lime/lemon juice or vinegar, the heating process cooks out the sourness! So, what should one do? Watch my *pet-bo in the video to learn how to perfectly control the level of the sourness and spiciness.
Ingredients:
- Carrots (Julienne) x ½ cup
- Bamboo shoots (Julienne) x ½ cup
- Black fungus (Julienne, Optional) x ⅓ cup
- Shiitake mushroom (Julienne) x ¼ cup
- Silken tofu (Julienne) x 1 box
- Cilantro (Finely chopped) x ¼ cup
- Green Onion (Finely chopped) x ¼ cup
- Pork (Shredded) x 4 oz
- Egg (Beaten) x 1
- Chicken Broth x 3-4 cups
- Corn starch mix ( 2 tbsp corn starch + 2 tbsp cold water)
- Corn starch x 1 tsp
- Taiwanese rice wine (or Japanese sake) x 1 tsp
- Shaohsing rice wine x 1.5 tsp
- Soy sauce x 3 tbsp
- Rice vinegar x 1.5-2 tbsp/serving
- Ground white pepper x 1-2 tsp/serving
- Sesame oil x ½ tsp/serving
- Cooking oil x 2 tbsp
- Salt to taste
Recipe:
- Marinade shredded pork with Taiwanese rice wine, Shaohsing rice wine, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and 1 tsp of corn starch for about 10 minutes.
- In a pot, heat up the cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add in the shredded pork, sauté until the color of all the pork is changed.
- Add in carrots and shiitake mushroom, sauté for a minute.
- Add in bamboo shoots and black fungus, sauté for another minute.
- Add the chicken broth in and bring to boil.
- Add in the tofu, and bring back to boil.
- Season with some salt to taste.
- Bring the broth to hard boil, then thicken with corn starch mix. Little by little, until your desired consistency.
- Bring the broth back to hard boil again, then turn the heat off. Create a fast whirlpool motion in the soup, and add in the beaten egg into the soup while the whirlpool is still going.
- In each serving bowl, add in rice vinegar and ground white pepper, then ladle the soup in. Garnish the soup with some chopped cilantro and green onions. Drizzle some sesame oil and serve!
