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Soups Sichuan Vegetarian

Hot and Sour Soup

Thick, peppery, tongue-tingling broth packed with wood ear mushroom, tofu, and bamboo shoot. The heat comes from white pepper, not chili.

Hot and sour soup in a dark bowl with wood ear mushroom, tofu strips and egg ribbons
Prep
15 min
Cook
15 min
Total
30 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
easy

Hot and sour soup gets thin and bland in most American restaurants, usually because of two shortcuts: not enough thickener, and vinegar added early enough to cook off.

The body should be substantial — this is a soup you eat with a spoon standing nearly upright, not a broth. Three tablespoons of cornstarch in five cups of liquid gets you there. And the defining flavors go in after the heat is off. Black vinegar and white pepper are both volatile; simmer them for five minutes and you are left with brown mushroom soup.

Note that the “hot” here is white pepper, not chili oil. It produces a dry, dusty heat at the back of the throat that is completely different from capsaicin burn, and it is what makes the dish recognizable.

Instructions

  1. 1

    Bring the broth to a simmer with the strained mushroom soaking liquid.

  2. 2

    Add the wood ear, shiitake, bamboo shoots, and tofu strips. Simmer 5 minutes.

  3. 3

    Stir in both soy sauces and the sugar.

  4. 4

    Whisk in the cornstarch slurry and simmer 2 minutes until the soup is properly thick — it should coat a spoon and move slowly, not slosh.

  5. 5

    Turn the heat to a bare simmer. Pour the beaten egg in a thin stream while stirring slowly in one direction, then leave it alone for 20 seconds.

  6. 6

    Turn off the heat completely. Only now stir in the black vinegar and white pepper.

  7. 7

    Taste and adjust — it should be aggressively sour and peppery. Finish with sesame oil and scallions.

Cook’s Notes

  • Vinegar and white pepper go in off the heat. Both are volatile; boiling them drives off exactly the sharpness the dish is named for.
  • The heat is white pepper, not chili. A teaspoon and a half sounds alarming and is correct — that dusty, sinus-clearing burn is the point.
  • Wood ear mushrooms are there entirely for texture. They contribute almost no flavor and a springy crunch nothing else provides.
#soup #spicy #vegetarian #comfort-food

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