This Restaurant-style Chinese Hot and Sour Soup is a spicy, tangy accompaniment for all your meals. Suit it to your taste and eat it when it’s piping hot! This simple homemade soup is easy to make and can be made with chicken or seafood too. Here is how to make it.
Soup just like salads is very healthy. When you consume soup, you do not only feel wholesome but you even feel less hungry.
That’s why whenever people wish to lose weight, their diet plans recommend that they should savor soups for their meals.
According to me, one of the best things about soup is that even in its one bowl, so much nutrition is loaded!
Hence, for dinner, at least twice or thrice a week, I try to experiment and make delicious soups. Thai Pumpkin Noodle Soup, and Tomato Basil Soup are my family’s all-time favorites.
But, my son is a huge fan of Indo-Chinese dishes. So, whenever I make Chinese Vegetable Hakka Noodles, I make sure that he finishes at least one bowl of Hot and Sour Soup as well.
Mostly, this soup relished only when one goes to restaurants, but as you know me, I try to make even the most challenging dishes at home.
About This Recipe
Hot and sour soup as the name suggests is a spicy and tangy soup that is loaded with vegetables.
The tang and spice come from the sauces used to make this. It is perfect to sip on cold winter days.
Just like Egg Drop Soup or Wonton Soup, this soup is also a hot take out dish.
It is a filling soup that has imbibed both the spicy as well as tangy flavors. Ideal to be relished during winter as well as monsoon, this soup definitely leaves you wanting for more!
As it is loaded with tons of fresh veggies such as carrot, capsicum, mushroom, vegetable stock et al, it is so good that you must definitely serve its bowlful to your kids whenever possible.
To give it the required thickness, I have used corn starch and all its sizzling flavor came right away by adding Dark Soy Sauce, Red Chilli Sauce, Black Pepper, and Rice Wine Vinegar
Ingredients
To make this soup, you will need vegetables of your choice. I have used corn, carrots, beet, capsicum, and mushrooms.
You can also use bok choy, cabbage, etc. Sometimes, I also like to add some cubed paneer or tofu in my soup.
You will also need sauces like soy sauce, red chilli sauce, and rice vinegar. You can decrease the amount of these sauces if you like soup mild.
To thicken the soup, I have used cornstarch mixed in water to make a slurry.
If you want gluten-free soup, you can skip adding it. The soup will be thin in consistency then. Or else you can use any gluten-free grain powder like rice powder to thicken the soup.
To make a gluten-free version, you will also have to replace soy sauce with Tamari.
You can add tofu, chicken, eggs, and shrimps to the soup and make a new version.
Add a little Sriracha sauce if you like it even more spicy.
How to make it Vegan?
The below-mentioned recipe is also vegan. So make a huge pot and enjoy this vegan soup.
How to make it with Chicken?
Boil some chicken breast until cooked. Shred the cooked chicken into small bites.
Add this shredded chicken along with the vegetables. Once the soup is cooked, very slowly pour one whisked egg and keep stirring to make egg ribbons.
How to make good broth for the soup?
Traditionally, dried shiitake mushroom, woodear mushroom, and dried lily flowers are used to make broth for the Hot & Sour soup.
They have an earthy woody flavor and gives a very distinct aroma and taste to the soup.
However, if you do not have access to these ingredients, you can make your Vegetable Broth by following the recipe here.
You can also use store-bought broth if you are pressed on time.
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Step by Step Recipe
Heat oil in a pan.
Once the oil is hot, add onion, ginger, and garlic and fry for a minute.
Add corn, carrot, capsicum and mushroom and cook for another minute on high flame.
Add vegetable stock and bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the heat and add soy sauce, red chilli sauce, and rice wine vinegar.
Add cornstarch slurry along with black pepper powder and bring the mixture to a boil.
Cook until it thicken.
Hot and Sour Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 2 tbsp Onion (Finely chopped)
- 1 tsp Ginger (Finely chopped)
- 1 tsp Garlic (Finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp Corn Kernels
- 2 tbsp Carrot (Finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp Beet root (Finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp Capsicum (Finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp Mushroom (Chopped)
- 2 cups Vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp Rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Red chilli sauce
- 1 and ½ tbsp Cornstarch (Dissolved in some water)
- ½ tsp Black pepper powder
- Spring onion greens for garnishing
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan.
- Once the oil is hot, add onion, ginger and garlic and fry for a minute.
- Add corn, carrot, beet, capsicum and mushroom and cook for another minute on high flame.
- Add vegetable stock and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and add soy sauce, red chilli sauce and rice wine vinegar.
- Add cornstarch with water along with black pepper powder and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Cook until it thicken.
- Garnish with spring onion greens.
- Serve piping hot.
