Hot and Sour Soup – Matt style
Posted by Matt SamyciaWood on Monday, March 16th, 2009Tags for this Article: Asain Home Gourmet, Hot and sour, soup
I decided to make Hot & Sour soup for the first time last night with the aid of my new found friend ‘Asian Home Gourmet‘.
I followed the recipe, but added a few different things. Here is the recipe and instructions:
Add 4 cups of broth (I used veggie broth) into a pot with the Asian Home Gourmet Hot & Sour soup paste. Bring to a boil. Add in cooked veggies (I caramelized onions for 30 minutes, and added red and orange peppers, cilantro, bok choy and Asian green beans – all chopped finely) and a bag of defrosted shrimp. Mix 2tbs of corn starch with 2tbs of water and add to soup. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Gradually add 1 beaten egg. Serve and garnish with chopped spring onions.
The packaging says that it is medium hot in taste but I felt it was quite mild. The uncooked spring onion on top complimented the flavours of the soup.
If I hadn’t spent 30 minutes caramilising the onions this would be a quick meal to prepare. It was very filling and was especially good on a cold night.
Try it next time without the soup paste. Just find yourself some white pepper and chinese red vinegar and soy sauce (to taste, each). And you gotta add some firm tofu.
You’ll be amazed at how hot simple white pepper can be. But it really balances the red vinegar vinegar. You can find that at safeway.
And to really kick it up a notch (sorry, Emeril) go find some chinese bbq pork and toss it in.
Sorry. I love Hot and Sour soup.
That sounds great Neil.
Not amazing at all, Neil. White pepper has always been hotter than black pepper. :)
Ah, but Joseph, not everyone knows that. Common knowledge usually isn’t, sadly.
Being that white pepper is the inner seed of the peppercorn ( same fruit as black pepper) it has a different flavor profile due to the outer seed being removed. I would say it isn’t any hotter than black pepper just different tasting.