Hot and Sour Soup

evelyn/athens's Note:

We are great soup eaters in the winter. This is my husband's absolute fave. He especially swears by this if he feels run-down with cold or flu.

• Total Time: 32 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1/2 lb pork or 1/2 lb chicken, cut into thin strips
• vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 -3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons cooking sherry
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 4 ounces enoki mushrooms
• 1/4 cup cloud ear mushrooms (you can find this at a specialty market) (optional)
• 1 can bamboo shoot, drained and rinsed
• 1 piece firm tofu, cut into very small cubes
• 2 -3 teaspoons rice or 2 -3 teaspoons cider vinegar (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper (to taste)
• soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 -2 teaspoon sesame oil (or to taste)

Garnish

• 1/2 cup chopped green onion

Directions:

1. Heat the wok or large pot.
2. When hot, add small amount of oil; cook meat until done.
3. Drain meat and set aside.
4. Reheat wok, add 1 tblsp oil.
5. Season with ginger and garlic, stirring well.
6. Add sherry and chicken broth.
7. Add meat, mushrooms, bamboo and tofu.
8. Bring to boil.
9. Flavor the soup with vinegar (the sour) and white pepper to taste (the hot).
10. Add enough soy sauce to give the soup a nice brown colour.
11. Taste and adjust flavor with salt.
12. Mix cornstarch with water.
13. Bring soup to boil again, slowly pour in cornstarch mixture.
14. Using a circular motion, slowly and evenly pour in beaten eggs.
15. Beat a little more rapidly to break up strands.
16. Do not stir again until the eggs have floated to the surface.
17. Add a small amount of sesame oil for extra flavour.
18. Serve, garnished with chopped, green onion Note: I often add a handful of those precooked, tiny shrimp at the end, too.

Reviews

[Jill4man]

Very good...my family loved it. We too were feeling ran down and a little under the weather and this soup hit the spot!

[Barb Gertz]

This is very good soup.Easy to made. Used left over turkey for the meat and canned shiitaka mushrooms as that is what I had. I did have to use 2 plus tablespoons of cornsarch to thicken the soup. I will be making this soup again as DH loves Hot & Sour soup.

[Len23]

This was good and generally well received by my company, though everyone said that it looked nothing like what hot and sour soup usually looks like, though they liked the taste. Go figure. I found mine thickened a little too much, so I ended up adding an additional cup of stock before serving. All in all, a good first attempt for me at H&S soup:).