Comfort in a bowl

Hot and sour soup is so worth the work to make it

Hot and sour soup is a tedious one to make but very satisfying when it’s done

Hot and sour soup is one of those concoctions that is hearty and comforting. It’s choc full of ingredients in every bite, and with a combination of sour and spice, you can’t stop eating it.

While it can be tedious to make with a lot of chopping involved, it's quite satisfying when it all comes together and tastes like a hug in a bowl.

I watched a few different videos on how to make it, with variations on the step-by-step process, and then cobbled together my own version.

First I sliced up some pork that was then marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, water and cornstarch. Some recipes specify lean pork, which in general is a good idea, but slightly fatty pork is fine too.

Some dry ingredients need to be rehydrated, such as black fungus and dried lily flower which I separately rinsed off and then soaked in separate bowls of hot water.

Then came the task of chopping. I chopped a few diagonal slices of a thick carrot into thin matchsticks, followed by some mushrooms; most recipes call for shiitake, but they can be any mushrooms you have, including enoki. Also chopped up the black fungus, and finally fresh bamboo shoots.

It can be a lot of work taking off the fibrous leaves from the bamboo shoots, but it’s so worth it in the end, as they give the soup a lovely crunchy texture. Like an artichoke, remove the leaves until you reach the tender yellowish part, and slice it into thin strips.

While recipes call for firm tofu to chop into thin strips, I only had silky tofu in the refrigerator and sliced it into thick ones to avoid too much breakage.

Now it was time to make the soup. Unfortunately I didn't buy enough chicken stock (six cups), so I added more water and some chicken powder, and it worked fine in a pinch. Three tablespoons of soy sauce was added to the stock too.

When the stock started simmering, I added the bamboo shoots, mushrooms, rehydrated lily flower and the black fungus.

Before adding the pork, I mixed it in its own marinade again and then carefully added it into the soup in small clumps and used chopsticks to make sure they didn't stick together.

After a minute or two I gingerly added the tofu, trying not to break them. Afterwards I avoided stirring the soup too vigorously.

Tofu, carrots, black fungus, pork, bamboo shoots, lily flower, egg and chicken stock

I let the soup cook for a few more minutes and then added a small spoonful of chilli oil (add more if you prefer it to be more spicy), some pepper, and a slurry of 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, 3 tablespoons of water and 5 tablespoons of vinegar to thicken the soup.

The final step is to take the soup off the heat and add a beaten egg to create "ribbons" in the soup. I watched one video that suggested placing the beaten egg into a ladle and then slightly submerging it in the middle of the pot and swirling it around to spread the egg mixture around the surface of the soup. It worked quite well in the end. Good tip!

It turned out to be a delicious soup that could use a bit more vinegar, which I'll add tomorrow when we finish the rest of the soup!