Hot and Sour Soup

One of my all time Chinese-American restaurant favorites!! Ever since my parents decided to retire from the restaurant business, I have been on a quest to find all of those Chinese-American dishes that I absolutely love. Well, I haven’t had much luck so I decided that I am just going to make them. I knew I was I was on the right track when I tasted this soup after putting everything together and I experienced a “being teleported back to my childhood memories in Ratatouille” moment.

This soup is spicy and tangy. A perfect pick me up as the weather gets colder and colder. It’s full of delicious goodies like pork, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and tofu that is sure to fill you up and warm you through.

• 1.5 lbs Chicken Thighs (With bones and skin)

• 5 pieces of Ginger (Cut into one inch chunks)

• 1 cube Beef Stock

  • I conveniently had some homemade beef stock cubes on hand so I decided to use it as a substitute for 1 Tbsp MSG.

• 1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

• 3/4 Cup Vinegar

• 10 Dried Thai Chilis (whole)

• 3 Tbsp Black Peppercorns

• Salt (To taste)

• 1 lbs Country Style Ribs (Cut into thin strips)

  • Marinade overnight in 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce, 2 Tbsp Sesame Oil, 1 Tbsp Ginger Powder, and 1 tsp Baking Powder

• 2 Cups Shiitake Mushrooms (Thinly sliced and roasted)

  • Spread the sliced mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toss in vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in an oven at 400°F for 20 minutes.

  • The mushrooms will shrink a lot so feel free to use more, especially if you are a mushroom lover like me!

• 1/2 package Firm Tofu (Cut into strips)

• 1 Cup Canned Bamboo Shoot Strips (About 1/2 a can)

• 3 Tbsp Cornstarch Slurry

  • 3 Tbsp Cornstarch mixed with 3 Tbsp Water

• 3 Eggs (Lightly beaten)

1. Make a simple chicken stock. In a stock pot, thoroughly brown all sides of the chicken thighs. Toss in the ginger and sauté until it is fragrant (about 5 - 10 minutes). Pour in about 5 quarts of water. Bring the pot up to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 2 - 4 hours. Add more water as necessary to keep the water level approximately the same. After the stock has been made, strain it twice through a cheese cloth to get a nice, clean stock. Set aside.

2. In a soup pot, brown the pork. Then add in the chicken stock, soy sauce, vinegar, beef stock cube (or MSG), roasted shiitake mushrooms, and salt. Put the Thai chilis and peppercorns in a tea bag or spice bag and then add them to the soup. That way, it can be taken out easily once the desired level of spiciness has been reached. Simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Adjust the flavors to your liking by adding more salt or vinegar or even a bit of sugar. The soy sauce is used to give the soup color and a slight hint of soy flavor. I would suggest not adding more soy sauce or it would be too overpowering.

4. Add in the bamboo shoot strips and tofu. Simmer for another 5 minutes to heat through.

5. Add in the cornstarch slurry. The end result should be a soup that is slightly thicker than water. The cornstarch slurry will thicken the soup as it cooks so add a bit at a time and wait to see how it changes the consistency. Be careful not to add too much.

6. Turn the heat down - low to medium-low. Once the soup is just barely bubbling, slowly pour in the beaten eggs around the pot to make egg ribbons. Do not stir and do not turn up the heat. Let the eggs slowly cook and come together. If you stir or the heat is too high, you’ll end up with a mess of scrambled eggs clouding your nice soup instead of egg ribbons.

7. Serve with some scallion, cilantro, and a squeeze of sesame oil.