15-Minute Chinese Hot and Sour Soup
Spicy, tangy and hearty, this Chinese Hot and Sour Soup is a bowl of ultimate comfort. This instant Indo-Chinese recipe comes together in only 15 minutes.This makes a very comforting soup to eat on a cold day, where you might be stuck inside, perhaps not feeling well. It takes very little effort.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4-5 ounces chicken boiled and shredded
- ¾ cup carrots sliced thinly
- ¾ green bell pepper sliced thinly
- ½ cup cabbage optional
- 2 spring onions sliced
- 2 tablespoons regular soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce optional
- 2 tablespoons sriracha or chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- salt to taste if required
- 1 egg whisked
- 4 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch) mixed with ¼ cup water
Instructions
- In a pot, on medium heat bring the stock to a simmer. Add in the regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sriracha sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, white pepper, brown sugar and sesame oil. Taste for salt, usually the stock and soy sauces make the soup salty enough.
- Then put in the chicken, carrot, bell pepper, cabbage and white part of spring onion.
- Bring the water to a boil. Then gradually pour the cornflour/cornstarch slurry (cornflour mixed with water) while stirring the soup. Don’t add all at once, stop adding when you reach your desired soup consistency.
- Lower the heat, add the egg and let it sit in the pot for 1 minute. Then stir and simmer the soup for 2-3 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add the green part of the spring onion.
- Serve hot with additional soy sauce, sriracha sauce and vinegar and chili mix on the side.
Notes
Bryan’s Notes
I made this soup on a very cold January Day, when we were recovering from an illness. It was very warming to our throats, and made us feel better.I left out the chicken, because we had no spare chicken; I used a yellow pepper in place of a green pepper, because that’s what we had; I halved the amount of Sriracha sauce, because my wife says that her body doesn’t react well to lots of spiciness these days. I used all the cornstarch, but next time I’ll back off on that because I ended up with a soup that was too thick for our taste. Update: (March, 2024) I made this again, just for myself. This time, I included chicken (I had two boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer, and I defrosted them and quickly boiled and shredded/sliced them). I did not cut back on the Sriracha sauce, or any of the other spices, but I probably wasn’t careful enough measuring them out, and so I ended up with a pretty spicy soup! Wimps beware!
