Sunday, June 8, 2008

Hot and Sour Soup

My husband loves Thai hot and sour soup and his favorite comes from Bangkok Kitchen in Farmington Hills. While this soup is not quite like the one at Bangkok Kitchen it is a great start and I would found it here. My Hubby thought this has a little too much vinegar and it needed chicken or tofu. I confess I did not have chicken or tofu on hand and I agree that it would have been nice and I could not find the chili garlic sauce at the store. This is a make again dish for sure; however, I will start to make some changes

6 cups vegetable stock
3 slices ginger
2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (I used dried, rehydrated because that was what was available)
1/2 cup enoki or straw mushrooms
1 wood ear mushroom, rehydrated, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup fresh bamboo shoot, slivered (I don't care for these so I did not add, I think I will next time)
1 cup firm tofu, diced (missed this too will add this or chicken in the future)
1 carrot, julienned
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh water chestnuts or sunchokes, diced
2 TB soy sauce1 TB mushroom-flavored dark soy sauce
1/2 TB sesame oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 TB chili garlic sauce (I could not find this at the store, maybe did not know where to look)
1 TB sugar
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. roasted chili powder (optional)
4 TB cornstarch dissolved in
4 TB cold water
1 egg, beaten (optional) (really only need 1/2 an egg)
green onions, chopped, for garnish
cilantro, for garnish (I must have the anti-cilantro gene because it tastes like soap to me so I used parsley)

Add stock and ginger to pot, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove ginger and add all remaining ingredients except cornstarch mixture, egg, and garnishes. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Add cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil until thickened. Immediately remove from heat and begin dripping spoonful's of the beaten egg into the hot soup as you stir the soup with the other hand (this creates a nice ribbon effect). Ladle into bowls and serve. Garnish with chopped green onions, a sprig of cilantro, and a few drops of chili-sesame oil (rayu).


I think a squeeze of lemon or lime juice at the end would be nice too, maybe.
I hope to some day get close the to Thai soup that Hubby so loves but until then we have this, which was a great chinese hot and sour soup.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your hubby has some good suggestion for the addition of protein, but i love it the way it is too! You have so many great veggies in it and with your hubbies advice, it would be just perfect!

Mike of Mike's Table said...

Looks delicious to me! I love hot & sour soup

Shayne said...

WORC- Thank you so any compliment from you is a big deal to me

Mike - Thank you and give it a try one of these days.

Emily said...

The soup sounds delicious. I really crave Asian flavors lately.
I agree with WORC - I think it's substantial enough, without the protein.

Anonymous said...

It's great that you were able to make it with the stuff you had available. We'll have to make the Vietnamese version sometime too :)

Shayne said...

Christine - I would love to make the Vietnamese version sometime that sounds great.

Shayne said...

emiline, Thank you. My family has been on an asian kick for about 2 years

Warda said...

It looks good just as it is, without Chicken and without tofu. Sorry N!