The heat here is white pepper, not chili, and the sour is aged vinegar stirred in at the end so it stays sharp. Everything else is texture: wood ear for snap, enoki for slip, silken tofu cut into threads that hold together just long enough to reach the bowl, and ribbons of egg set by pouring in a thin stream and leaving them alone.
Chinese · Soup
Hot and Sour Soup With Silken Tofu and Wood Ear
A tomato base, two bowls of hot water, then tofu cut into threads, wood ear, enoki and a stream of egg, soured at the end with aged vinegar.
- Prep15 min
- Cook15 min
- Serves3
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 1 | tomato , peeled and chopped |
| 1 box | silken tofu |
| 1 handful | enoki mushrooms , cut into three lengths |
| 2 | shiitake mushrooms , sliced thin |
| a small handful | wood ear fungus , soaked and blanched |
| 1/3 | carrot , julienned |
| half | ham sausage , julienned |
| 1 | egg , beaten |
| 2 tbsp | light soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | ground white pepper |
| 2 tbsp | aged vinegar |
| 1 tsp | sesame oil |
| to taste | salt |
| to taste | mushroom seasoning powder |
| a small bunch | cilantro , chopped |
| as needed | cooking oil |
Method
- Soak the wood ear and blanch it, then cut it into thin strips, along with the carrot and the ham.
- Slice the shiitake thin, cut the enoki into three lengths and chop the cilantro; peel the tomato and cut it into small pieces.
- Heat a little oil in a pot, add the tomato and cook it down until it collapses into a wet paste.
- Pour in two bowls of hot water and bring it back to a boil.
- Add the shiitake, then the wood ear, carrot and ham, then the enoki, letting the pot return to a simmer between additions.
- Cut the silken tofu into fine strips with a sharp knife in one quick stroke from right to left, slide them into the pot and stir gently.
- Season with the soy sauce, white pepper and mushroom seasoning and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Lower the heat and pour the beaten egg in a thin stream; leave it for a moment until it sets and floats before stirring.
- Add salt if it needs it, then the vinegar, the cilantro and finally the sesame oil, and take the pot off the heat.
Notes
- Vinegar goes in last and off the boil. Cooked vinegar loses the sharpness that makes this soup what it is.
- Cut the tofu in one continuous stroke. Sawing at it breaks the threads into crumbs.
- The tomato is doing the work of stock here, so cook it properly rather than just warming it through.
Ratios and technique checked against 66•食屿 on Douguo (家常版酸辣汤｜料多味足，开胃解腻，简单好做不翻车). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.