Spicy or hot and sour soup. In restaurants, its quality and taste ranges from amazingly delicious to lukewarm, tasteless and mushy. When you prepare it at home, you can control the acidity and heat level yourself. The spicy soup is variously claimed as a regional dish by cuisines in Beijing and Sichuan.
There are many variations of spicy soup. The combination of vinegar, white pepper and sesame oil creates an amazing taste that is iconic. Chinese spicy soup is usually meat-based and often contains ingredients such as daylily buds, black mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and tofu in a broth that is often flavored with pork blood (black tofu 黑豆腐).
This Szechuan spicy soup recipe is very similar to the original soup recipe from northern China and without the use of this ingredient ((black tofu) which is too “exotic” for some people). The meat for the soup can be either pork or chicken.
Ingredients:
- 300 g pork tenderloin
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil
- 200g of bamboo shoots
- 5 pcs Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms (or champignons)
- 5 pcs of black mushrooms (Judas’s ear)
- 1 piece of carrot
- 3 slices of ginger
- 250 g tofu (medium hard)
- 1.5 liters of chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chili sauce ( Doubanjiang )
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 2 tablespoons of Chinese vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
There are two ways to prepare meat:
You can put a whole piece of meat in boiling water and let it cook until it is cooked. Remove the meat from the pot and keep the water as stock for making the soup. Place the meat on a cutting board and cut it into strips.
The second method is to cut the raw meat into strips and marinate them in a light soy sauce, oil and cornstarch. Small pieces of pork just need to marinate for fifteen minutes. Marinating will enhance the flavor of the meat and thanks to the cornstarch, the meat will be velvety smooth.
Are you vegetarian? You can omit the meat for a vegetarian version. Just slightly add more of the other ingredients.
Spicy soup – preparation
Shiitake mushrooms
The Sichuan Hot and Sour Soup recipe calls for dried Chinese shiitake mushrooms. Soak the mushrooms in water until they are fully hydrated and very soft and easy to slice. The time required varies from one hour to two to three hours, as it depends on the thickness of the mushrooms. If you have enough time, soak them in advance or even overnight. Otherwise, soak the mushrooms in hot water to speed up the process. Remove the stem, thinly slice the mushrooms and set aside.
Tip
The water after soaking the mushrooms has a lot of flavor. Use it to make soup.
You can also use other types of mushrooms as a substitute. Mushrooms are the best alternative.
Black mushrooms
Black mushrooms have a crunchy and slippery texture that is completely different from all other food ingredients. Dried mushrooms need to be soaked in water, just like dried shiitake mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are fully hydrated, they will expand and soften. Remove the hard center in the middle. Cut into thin strips. Set aside.
Bamboo shoots
They are the basic ingredient of spicy soup. Cut them into thin slices. Their crunchiness can be increased by slicing them lengthwise instead of crosswise.
Tofu
The ideal tofu for this soup should be soft, but it can be difficult to handle. Cut into slices and then into noodles. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Tofu should be added to the soup only after all the ingredients (except the egg) have been cooked, as it can break easily.
Carrot
You can also add some carrots to spice up the soup. Since the other ingredients are cut into strips, we also cut the carrots into strips.
Ginger
To enhance the taste, add a few slices of ginger to the soup. As we only want the taste of ginger, discard it after cooking.
Bring the water to a boil. Boil the marinated meat for half a minute. Then add chopped mushrooms, bamboo shoots, carrots, tofu, ginger to the pot and cook for two minutes.
Dark Soy Sauce
A small amount of dark soy sauce will help darken the color of the soup. Once you add dark soy sauce and chili bean paste to the broth, it will get the right color of spicy soup.
Chili Paste (Toban Djan, Doubanjiang 豆瓣醬)
This is a convenient way to add Szechuan flavor to any dish. Some people omit it and add a bit of chili oil to the soup , which adds heat to the chili and creates the characteristic red hue of Sichuan spicy soup.
Corn porridge
Corn starch thickens the soup and gives it a smooth mouthfeel. Corn porridge is obtained by mixing corn starch with water. Add more cornmeal until desired consistency is reached.
Egg
Pour the beaten egg into the soup by slowly dropping it from above in a circular motion into the soup. Wait a second or two and gently push the egg strands with a ladle, this will break them into short pieces. Do not overmix the eggs.
Zhenjiang Vinegar (Chinkiang Vinegar)
The sourness of the soup comes from the vinegar. Zhenjiang vinegar ( zhènjiāng xiāngcù , 镇江香醋) is best for this soup. An alternative can be red vinegar 浙醋。Zhenjiang vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar) is sharper and more acidic than red vinegar. This vinegar should only be added at the final stage of cooking, as it loses its flavor after longer cooking.
Ground White Pepper
The hotness of the soup comes from the pepper, not the chili. Use ground white pepper, not black pepper. Since white pepper releases a bitter taste when heated for too long, add it to the sesame oil soup at the very end of cooking.
Sesame oil
In the last step, add a teaspoon of sesame oil. We want the soup to have a sesame flavor. Therefore, it should never be replaced with other oils.
You can also vary the composition of the soup. Use scallops or shrimp instead of meat, make a spicy chicken soup, or leave out the meat if you prefer a vegetarian version.
