The BEST Hot & Sour Soup!

Spicy, flavorful, and full of exotic ingredients, Hot & Sour soup is perfect for chilly nights and festive occasions.This version will rival your favorite Chinese restaurant’s.  

The trick is to have everything prepped and ready for assembly and cooking.  You’ll need lots of bowls, measuring spoons and cups, and a good sharp knife.  The list of ingredients may look daunting, but it just requires one trip to your Asian grocery, and the rest is easy to find at your local market.  

Hot & Sour soup can be as hot as you like, and can always be customized to make it hotter than this recipe…  but once it’s hot, you can’t undo it. So proceed with caution!

The BEST HOT & SOUR SOUP
                            Makes four – 12 ounce servings

1 small handful of dried lily flowers (Asian grocery)
1/2 cup dried “wood ears” or “tree ears” mushrooms (Asian grocery)
3 ounces lean, trimmed pork (pork tenderloin or boneless center cut pork chops
1/2 pound firm tofu
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (canned or fresh)

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons fresh, peeled ginger root
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (Asian grocery or spice store), or to taste

2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water

three 14-1/2 ounce cans chicken broth
1 cup water

2 eggs

2 scallions
1 teaspoon sesame oil or hot sesame oil, optional

Preparation:
1.    Rinse the dried lily flowers and soak in a bowl with ample water to cover for 20 minutes.
2.    Rinse the dried mushrooms and soak in a bowl with ample water to cover for 20 minutes.  These will increase amazingly in size.  They’re great in stir-fry broccoli too!
3.    Cut the pork in thin slices, stack a few at a time and cut in thin julienne strips.  It’s easier if you put the meat in the freezer briefly to make it very firm.  You can buy a few pork chops, trim them, cut into approximately 3 ounce portions, and freeze for future use.  Put the pork strips in a small bowl and set aside.
4.    Pat dry and cut the tofu into cubes.  Put in a small bowl and set aside.
5.    Drain, rinse and soak the canned bamboo shoots to eliminate some of the canned flavor.  Drain and cut enough into julienne strips to make 1/2 cup.   Fresh ones are hard to find.
6.    In a medium bowl or measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, vinegar (white is best!), garlic on a toothpick, fresh ginger root, sugar, salt, and peppers.  Don’t skip the white pepper.  Some like a teaspoon of pepper and cayenne, but it’s wise to start slowly and add more spice to taste.  This isn’t a garlic-y soup.  The garlic on the toothpick is a subtle way to flavor a dish, but don’t forget to remove it!
7.    In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and 1/2 cup water.  Set aside.
8.    In another small bowl, add the eggs and mix with a fork.

Assemble:  
In a large soup pot, combine the chicken broth and water.  You should have approximately 6-1/2 cups liquid.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Add the pork, breaking it into pieces, and return the liquid to a simmer.

Drain the lily flowers well and cut off the hard stem ends.  Drain the mushrooms and cut into small pieces.

Add the lily flowers, mushroom pieces, tofu and bamboo shoots to the liquid.  Let the soup return to a simmer.  

Add the soy sauce/vinegar/spice mixture.  Bring to a simmer again.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Remove the garlic on the toothpick.

Stir the cornstarch mixture and add to the soup slowly, stirring and cooking until thickened.

Drizzle the eggs slowly in a thin stream into the hot soup, stirring in the same direction to get “strings” of egg.  Turn off the heat.  

Ladle into bowls and top with a few slivered scallions and an optional drizzle of (hot) sesame oil.