Hot and sour soup – a traditional Chinese recipe for any occasion
Hot and sour soup is a spicy dish that's often served as a starter in Chinese restaurants. My friend Fanly from Vancouver was here recently and she shared her family recipe for this delicious soup. The soup has a tasty mix of ingredients, like tofu, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and a rich broth with soy sauce and rice vinegar. What makes this soup so great is not just that the balance between spicy and sour is spot on, but also how you can adapt it to suit your own tastes. You can add almost any leftover vegetables from your fridge and the result will be a delicious dish.

Whether you are a fan of the spicy kick or the sour twist, hot and sour soup is the perfect solution for a quick, tasty meal on a busy weeknight. The dish gets your appetite going and tickles your taste buds with every spoonful. So, what are you waiting for? Join me in the kitchen and see for yourself why this dish is so loved all over the world.
The origin of hot and sour soup
White pepper was used more than 2000 years ago during the Han Dynasty as a warming agent and remedy for colds and flu. It was mixed into a hot liquid and served as soup to the poor. The dish as we know it today was developed much later in the provinces of Sichuan and Hunan, where spicy dishes are the norm. Traditionally, the soup was made with ingredients such as white pepper, sesame oil and sometimes pork and meatballs.
The wave of immigration from China to the west coast of Canada and America brought Chinese regional dishes as well. At first, cooks tried to recreate the flavours of their homeland as closely as possible with what was available locally. That's how different types of hot and sour soup came about in places like San Francisco and Vancouver's Chinatowns. There was the Sichuan version, which used a mix of red and white rice vinegar, white pepper, Sichuan pepper and fermented mustard leaf. Then there was the Beijing-style, made with white pepper, black rice vinegar, pieces of ham or shrimp and noodles.
The recipe for hot and sour soup eventually evolved into a sort of international standard with pieces of pork, tofu, egg and mushrooms (usually a combination of dried shiitake and black wood ear fungus) in a broth with white or black pepper and regular vinegar. But that doesn't mean you can't be creative. For example, you can leave out the pork for a vegetarian version or replace it with crab, shrimp or chicken. And, surprisingly, there's no chilli pepper in hot and sour soup! The heat in this soup actually comes from white pepper, not chilli. And to really get that great flavour, the pepper has to be freshly ground. Finish the recipe with a dash of sesame oil and fresh coriander leaves and enjoy!

Hot and sour soup – my friend Fanly's family recipe

Ingredients for 4 people:
- 25 g dried black wood ear fungus
- 4 dried Chinese mushrooms
- 4 large fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 1,25 litre chicken stock
- 2 cm fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
- Salt
- 1 small carrot
- 1 spring onion
- 1 small can of bamboo shoots (about 75 g)
- 50 grams firm tofu
- 2 eggs
- 8 prawns
- 2 tablespoons Chinese black rice vinegar
- 75 ml regular vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoon cornflour
- 2 to 3 teaspoons freshly ground white pepper
- 3 to 4 sprigs of coriander
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Step 1: Prepare the mushrooms
Soak the black wood ear fungus in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. Then cut the fungus into thin strips and remove any tough bits.
At the same time, soak the Chinese mushrooms in warm water for 30 minutes. Remove the mushrooms and pour the water through a sieve to eliminate any impurities. Set the sieved water aside. Then squeeze the mushrooms, remove the stems and cut them into fine strips.
Finally, cut the fresh shiitake mushrooms into fine strips.
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Step 2: More preparations
Peel the ginger and carrot. Slice the ginger and cut the carrot into julienne. Rinse the bamboo shoots and cut them into julienne as well. Next, slice the spring onion, cut the tofu into cubes and beat the eggs. Then peel and cut the shrimp in half. Pluck the leaves from the coriander stalks.
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Step 3: Flavour the chicken stock
Heat the chicken stock together with the soaking water from the Chinese mushrooms, the ginger, the soaked mushrooms and the black wood ear fungus. Let this come to just below boiling point. Skim off any foam and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Add light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon sesame oil and rice wine. Taste and add salt as needed.
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Step 4: finish off the hot and sour soup
Add the shiitake strips and julienne of carrot and bamboo shoots to the flavoured stock. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Then add the diced tofu and shrimp. Next, mix the black rice vinegar and regular vinegar into the broth. Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the soup in a thin stream, stirring them in to make thin threads of coagulated egg. Next, mix the cornflour with a little water, pour this into the soup and simmer until the soup is slightly thickened.
Finally, mix in the white pepper and the sesame oil.
Divide the hot and sour soup between four deep bowls and garnish with spring onion and coriander leaves.