Hot and Sour Soup
Hot and sour soup is a classic Chinese dish that's usually made with meat, but we wanted to play with the meatiness of dried mushrooms by making a vegetarian version of this dish. Dried mushrooms are little flavor bombs; not only are they terrific on their own, but they infuse the hydrating water with loads of flavor. That water can be added to soup to create hearty depth and add plenty of umami essence.
Prepare everything so this dish moves along quickly. Soak the mushrooms, julienne the vegetables, and press the tofu to get all the water out of it. Once everything is ready you should be able to assemble this soup fairly quickly. You won't use all the water you're going to drain out of the mushrooms, so use what the recipe calls for and save the rest for another use. It makes wonderful pasta sauce or gravy, and it can be frozen until you need it.
- ½ cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- ½ cup dried oyster mushrooms
- ½ cup dried straw, tree ear, or wood ear mushrooms
- 8 cups vegetable stock
- 1-2 Dried Thai Chiles
- ¾ cup carrots, rinsed, peeled, and julienned
- ½ pound extra firm tofu, squeezed of water and julienned
- ½ cup bamboo shoots, drained and julienned
- ½ cup water chestnuts, drained and julienned
- 5 ounces soy sauce
- 5 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced fine
- 1 teaspoon Demerara Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon White Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Arrowroot Powder
- ½ cup reserved mushroom water
- Optional - 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- Scallions, to taste, sliced thin
- Soak dried mushrooms in boiling water for 20 minutes; use about 1 cup of water for every 1/2 cup of mushrooms.
- Drain mushrooms, reserving water.
- While mushrooms are soaking, prepare all vegetables and other items.
- In a stockpot or a wok, bring the stock and Thai chiles to a boil. Add carrots, and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add mushrooms, tofu, bamboo, and water chestnuts, bring back to a boil and then set to simmer.
- Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger root, Demerara Sugar, Kosher Salt, Garlic Powder, and White Pepper.
- Taste the soup and adjust the vinegar and salt as necessary.
- Take ½ cup of the reserved mushroom water and mix it with the Arrowroot Powder to make a slurry. Slowly stir into soup to thicken. Soup should coat the back of a spoon.
- If you’re using egg - Drizzle beaten eggs slowly into the soup while stirring, so you get “strings” of eggs.
- Remove from heat, ladle into bowls and top with desired amount of scallions.
*If you don’t care for spicy heat, you can leave the Thai Chiles out.
