Suan La Tang (酸辣汤) Hot and Sour Soup
September 25, 2017
Suan La Tang (酸辣汤) Hot and Sour Soup has many different exciting flavor combinations; sour from the vinegar, savory from the broth and hot and spicy from the white pepper.
One of our favorite recipes from this cookbook is Suan La Tang (酸辣汤) Hot and Sour Soup. We adjusted this recipe to make it easier to assemble. Chinese hot and sour soup is usually pork based, and often contains ingredients such as day lily, dried wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots, tofu, vinegar, and white ground pepper. Many of these items can be exchanged or left out without too many changes to the taste and quality of the recipe.
However, there are 2 ingredients that make this Hot and Sour Soup special and they are...1) Chinkiang Vinegar (rice based black vinegar is a famous vinegar from the city of Zhenjiang) It is a dark complex vinegar that just cannot really be substituted. 2) ground white pepper. We feel that these 2 special ingredients cannot be substituted as they are the bones to this delicious soup.
Just as a heads up Chinkiang vinegar (black rice vinegar) is NOT gluten-free. If you are celiac, you will need to sway away from the dark vinegar and go with a gluten-free rice wine vinegar instead.
We understand that it may be difficult to obtain day lily and dried wood ear fungus, so we have left them out of this recipe but if you can get your hands on these ingredients be sure to add them as they are delicious. We like using the dried mushrooms because we use the mushroom broth created from the reconstituting of the dry mushrooms right in the soup base. Really delicious! If you want to make this recipe lower in carbohydrates exchange the cornstarch and water slurry with an additional egg streamed in and it will make it thicker and velvety.
Mid-Autumn Festival is right around the corner. Are you ready? We are going to be enjoying our Apple Pecan Spring Roll Mooncakes, Snowy Mooncakes and tea (cha) and enjoying the bright brilliant moon.
Suan La Tang (酸辣汤) Hot and Sour Soup
September 25, 2017
Hot and sour soup has many different exciting flavor combinations; sour from the vinegar, savory from the broth and hot and spicy from the white pepper.
- Prep: 30 mins
- Cook: 30 mins
- Yields: 4 Adults
Ingredients
dried mushrooms - 6 dried shiitake or other dried mushrooms of choice, such as wood ear (available at asian food stores or use fresh mushroom substitute)
soy sauce - 2 tablespoon (tamari sauce for gluten free) (1 tablespoon for pork marinade and 1 tablespoon for soup base)
white pepper ground - 1/8 th teaspoon (really needs to be "ground white pepper" as this makes the dish)
cooking sherry or Shao xing wine - 1 teaspoon
chicken broth (or vegetable broth) - 4 cups
bamboo shoots - 1/2 cup sliced in julienne threads (if you are in an Asian grocery store and like it spicy they have bamboo shoots in chili oil)
tofu (bean curd) firm - 1/2 pound (8 ounces) chopped into bite sized cubes or julienne slices whatever you prefer.
white pepper - 1/2 teaspoon or more for desired heat level
Chingkiang Black Chinese vinegar - 3 to 4 tablespoons or to taste
Cornstarch Slurry - 3 tablespoons cornstarch blended with 4 tablespoons water
sesame oil - 1 teaspoon or to taste
chili oil - optional as desired or just increase the amount of white pepper for added heat.
Directions
1Rinse the dried mushrooms and then soak the mushrooms in hot water for at least 30 minutes or until soft. (Reserve the mushroom water from the soak as it is delicious in the soup.)
2Mix pork with the next five ingredients (soy sauce, white pepper, onion powder, sherry wine (shao xing wine) and cornstarch) and set aside.
3Cut mushrooms into thin slices and prepare and chop the rest of your items.
4Place the chicken broth and the reserved mushroom broth from reconstituting the dry mushroom in a deep sauce pan or wok; cover and bring to boil.
5Add marinated pork, sliced reconstituted dry mushrooms and bamboo shoots; bring to boil.
6Add tofu (bean curd ); bring to a boil.
7Stir in 3 Tablespoons Chinkiang black vinegar and blended cornstarch; cook until sauce thickens.
8Reduce to low heat and stir in beaten egg, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon white pepper. Adjust to the addition of white pepper to your level of heat. Feel free to add a little drizzle of chili oil if you like. (optional)
9Pour into tureen; sprinkle with the minced green onion on the soup and serve hot. Delicious with a side of cooked jasmine white rice.
