Hot & Sour Soup

Hot and sour soup has always been a comfort food of sorts growing up. During long summer breaks with nothing to do, my mom would take me with her to work. Over the course of 8 hours, I would slowly but surely get bored out of my mind sitting in her office trying to keep myself busy with nothing at all. But come lunchtime, my sacrifice would be rewarded: mom would order me my favorite pairing, a slice of scallion-sesame bread stuffed with beef and a pint of hot and sour soup.

With the memory of that childhood favorite in mind, I set out to recreate a version of it with none of the ingredients I disliked as a kid (dried lily buds) and more of the ones I loved. This is an infinitely adaptable soup that you can customize to your liking. If you'd prefer a version with pork, you can add ground or sliced meat at the very beginning of the cooking process, right after the aromatics and before the Sriracha. For a completely vegetarian version, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth—alternatively, rehydrate dried shiitake mushrooms to use in the soup and keep the soaking liquid to use as broth.

Wood ear

Wood ear is an edible fungus that has a very different mouthfeel than most other varieties of mushrooms. Found in most Asian grocery stores, it comes packaged in a dehydrated state and after being soaked in water for 1 to 2 hours, it unfurls into a thin, shiny, wavy pansy-like shape. Lightly cooked, it retains a crisp-tender crunchiness, reminiscent of cartilage on chicken bones. Relatively tasteless on its own, it's great at carrying the flavors of any soup it's in while providing that extra bit of textural excitement.

If you have trouble finding this ingredient, you can leave it out or substitute with thinly sliced celery for texture or bell peppers for a little extra flavor.

Yuba and tofu

Yuba and tofu are both soybean products, but each contributes a different texture to this soup. Yuba—also known as bean burd and tofu skin—is basically the cheese of soybean products. During the boiling of soy milk in tofu production, a layer of rich bean curd rises to the top and forms a skin. This layer is then skimmed off and sold as fresh yuba or dehydrated and packaged in a shelf-stable state.

Similar to unsalted mozzarella in taste once rehydrated and cooked, yuba is delicious as a slightly chewy, mildly creamy meat alternative in this soup. If you have trouble finding this ingredient, you can leave it out or simply substitute with more of your favorite mushrooms for texture or smoked tofu for flavor. 

What kind of tofu you use in this soup is totally up to personal preference: anything from soft to extra-firm will do just fine. Silken tofu is very fragile and will immediately crumble at the slightest touch: It adds a wonderfully pudding-like texture to the soup but handle it gently to prevent it from breaking into tiny little bits and disappearing into the soup.

Optional silky egg drop addition

If you love egg drop soup, you might want to add that element into your hot and sour soup. Consider it the finishing touch: for perfect silky strands, you'll have to remove the pot from heat and wait until the simmer settles down before very slowly drizzling in your egg mixture in a skinny thread around the pot. Patience is the name of the game here: cover the pot with a lid and simply wait without stirring the pot until the egg coagulates and cooks in the hot (but not boiling) broth.

Adjust your spice level according to personal taste: I've made it just spicy enough to break a baby sweat on the forehead. As with most soups, this one tastes even better the day after. Keep leftovers in a glass jar or airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you've made this recipe, leave us a rating and let us know how you liked it!