Today, I would like to introduce and teach you guys how to make perfect Hot and Sour Soup. This soup tastes both spicy and sour at the same time as the name. Hot and sour soup came from Sichuan of China. People who live in Sichuan need hot and spicy food to warm them up since the weather is chilly. However, this soup becomes common and popular in my hometown, Taiwan since it is easy and quite cheap. Besides, people usually have the ingredients of hot and sour soup in their refrigeration so we could make the soup effortlessly. Overall, that's why I like to make this soup and want to share with you guys.
Actually, there are various recipes about hot and sour soup. Some of them are made with pork, but I will be going over the vegetarian version today .
Ingredient:
Ginger, julienne ----------------- 10 gram
Carrot, julienne ------------------ 50 gram
Dried mushroom----------------- 50 gram
Enoki mushroom ---------------- 50 gram
Chinese cabbage, julienne ----- 60 gram
Soft tofu, slice ------------------- 40 gram
Green onion, dice --------------- 0.5 sprigs
Large egg, lightly beaten ---------1
Soy sauce -------------------------- 1 tablespoon
White vinegar --------------------- 4 tablespoon
Dried mushroom water ---------- 2 cup
Vegetable oil -------------------- 1/4 cup
Sesame oil ------------------------- 1 tablespoon
Cornstarch ------------------------- 3 tablespoon
Cold water ------------------------- 4 tablespoon
White pepper ------------------- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt --------------------------------- to taste
Water ------------------------------ 1000 ml
Direction:
1. Place Dried Mushroom in cold water until soft. After that, cut it into slices. Leave dried
mushroom water for stock
2. Heat up a small stock pot with vegetable oil and sesame oil
3. Place ginger and carrots in the pot and stir evenly and until carrots are 70 % cooked
4. Add dried mushroom, cabbage, enoki mushroom and mix well
5. Pour dried mushroom and stock into the pot and wait for boil
6. Add soy sauce for colour, salt for taste
7. Mix cornstarch and cold water evenly. Pour it into the pot and stir regularly
8. Add tofu and slightly stir around 3 minutes then turn off the heat
9. Add egg, stirring gently. Turn on the heat after egg is cooked
10. Add white vinegar, white pepper for seasoning
11. Drizzling green onion on the top
The aroma of soup is a little bit sour and tangy. Visually it is colourful and looks yummy. What I noticed from the soup is the multi layers of taste, which includes spiciness, sourness and slight umami of mushroom. It is so palatable and satisfying. I really enjoyed the soup since it warms me up during the cool days. Besides, this soup has high nutrition containing diversified vegetable to increase in enterogastric peristalsis and tofu supply of protein, essential amino acids, iron, calcium and some vitamin. I would certainly share it with my friends because this soup is so wonderful and savoury. They all love it no matter Asian or Western. Asian are used to sour taste so they are happy with it since it is the type of food they usually grow up with. People from the western world don’t necessarily incorporate this type of sourness into their cuisine; however, they do like it because it tastes very smooth and balanced although the taste could be quite complex.
It seems the soup is so perfect, but it is not actually excellent. How to cut tofu into equal sizes so it could be cooked evenly is a big challenge to me since tofu is really soft and it breaks easily. It probably will be improved if I use firm tofu next time. Another problem is the white vinegar; it gets its tang and it may be different depend on brand, ingredients and making methods. I learn how to control the heat when I pour the cornstarch mixture and balance the flavours of all ingredients from this experience. I know I still need to accumulate my experience for my future culinary technique and I also know I will grow and obtain valuable knowledge from each experience. That will enable me to stand on vantage point and I could apply everything I gained from every experiment to my cooking skills. Now, being a beginner, I need to learn step by step and pursue improvement in order to fulfill my culinary dreams. I also expect myself to be an outstanding chef who has the ability to create new and delicious dishes for everyone
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