Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

• 6 cups Low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 cups Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• ½ oz Dried porcini mushrooms
• ½ block Extra-firm tofu, cut into matchsticks
• ¾ cup Bamboo shoots, canned, drained and rinsed (optional)
• 3 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 2 tbsp Low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 ½ tsp Black pepper, white pepper if you have it
• 3 tbsp Cornstarch
• 2 Eggs (large), beaten
• 1 tsp Toasted sesame oil
• 3 Scallions (green onions), sliced
• 1 tbsp Chili crisp (optional)

Method

1. Pour a cup of the broth over the dried porcini and let them sit 15 minutes. Lift them out, chop them, and keep the soaking liquid — that liquid is where most of the flavor went.
2. Bring the rest of the broth to a simmer with the porcini liquid (leave the last gritty spoonful behind), the fresh mushrooms and the bamboo shoots. Simmer 8 minutes.
3. Add the tofu, vinegar, soy sauce and a full teaspoon of pepper. Simmer 3 minutes and taste: it should be aggressively sour and peppery, because the starch and egg about to go in will mute both.
4. Whisk the cornstarch with 4 tablespoons cold water and stir it in. Simmer 2 minutes until the soup turns glossy and coats a spoon.
5. Turn the heat to its lowest. Pour the beaten egg in a thin stream while stirring the soup slowly in one direction — that makes ribbons instead of scrambled lumps. Stop stirring and let it set 30 seconds.
6. Off the heat, add the sesame oil and the remaining half teaspoon of pepper. Serve with scallions and, for those who want it, a spoonful of chili crisp.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

The heat in this soup is pepper, not chile. It is a warmth at the back of the throat rather than a burn on the tongue, and it is what makes it taste like a good Chinese restaurant.

🧒 For the kids

Ladle a child's bowl out before the pepper goes in and thin it with a splash of broth. What is left is mushroom-egg soup, which most children like.

🥡 Leftovers

Keeps 3 days. The starch thins on standing — bring it back to a simmer and it re-thickens.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.