Hot and Sour Soup

4.79 from 41 votes

Hot and Sour Soup is a spicy, tangy and lightly thickened soup made with vegetables, mushrooms, soy sauce, spices, herbs and vinegar. It is a popular Indo-Chinese restaurant style soup that can be made easily at home. This vegan version is full of vegetables and has a balanced hot and sour taste.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Side Dish, Starters

Cuisine: Indo Chinese

Diet: Vegan

Difficulty Level: Easy

Servings:

Calories: 145kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

1 small carrot or about 50 grams carrots or ¼ cup grated carrots
5 to 6 button mushrooms or ¾ cup sliced mushrooms
¼ cup shredded cabbage
¼ cup finely chopped french beans
1 small onion - finely chopped or about ¼ cup finely chopped onions
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
2 teaspoons finely chopped celery - optional
4 to 5 teaspoons cornstarch mixed in 2 tablespoons water - for a slight thicker soup, mix 6 to 7 teaspoons cornstarch in 3 tablespoons water
¾ teaspoon black pepper powder or white pepper or ¾ teaspoon red chili paste or green chili sauce
3 teaspoons soy sauce - naturally brewed, add as required
2 teaspoons rice vinegar or add as required
2.5 cups water or veg stock
2 to 3 teaspoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
1 tablespoon oil - any neutral oil or toasted sesame oil
salt as required

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preparation

First rinse and shred the cabbage and french beans.
Wipe the mushrooms with a wet cloth and then slice them. You can also rinse the mushrooms in fresh water if you prefer.
Rinse, peel and grate the carrots. Chop the onions, ginger, celery and garlic.

Stir frying veggies

Heat oil in a pan or wok.
Add finely chopped onions, ginger and garlic. Stir and saute on a medium heat for 2 minutes.
Then add the finely chopped french beans. Stir and add the sliced mushrooms.
On a medium to high heat, stir fry till the mushrooms get lightly browned from the edges.
Meanwhile make a paste of corn starch and water. Keep aside.
Once the mushrooms are lightly browned (takes about 5 to 6 minutes on a medium to high heat) add carrots, cabbage and celery.
Stir fry these veggies on a high heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

Making hot and sour soup

Add water or veg stock. Stir well. Add soy sauce and stir.
Then season with salt.
Keep a check on the amount of salt as soy sauce already has salt.
Bring the soup to a simmer on medium heat.
Stir the cornstarch paste and add it to the soup. Stir and mix again very well.
Allow the soup to thicken on a low to medium heat.
When the hot and sour soup has thickened, add black pepper or white pepper and vinegar.
Give a final stir. Switch off the heat. Check the taste and add more soy sauce, vinegar or salt or black pepper if needed.
Serve the hot and sour soup steaming hot garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro) or spring onion greens.
You can also just add the cilantro towards the end and then serve the soup.

Notes

Vegetables: You can add vegetables of your choice. Some options are cauliflower, zucchini, bell pepper, broccoli, spring onions, bok choy, napa cabbage, steamed sweet corn, baby corn, bamboo shoots, etc.
Mushrooms: Mushrooms like dried shiitake mushrooms or cremini mushrooms can also be added. For shiitake mushrooms, first rinse and then rehydrate them in water by soaking for a few hours. When they are softened, remove and discard the chewy base stalk, chop them and add to the soup.
Protein boost: For more protein, add tofu or sprouts. For a vegetarian soup, you can add paneer cubes.
Seasonings: Alter the flavors of your soup by adding less or more of the seasonings like soy sauce, black pepper and rice vinegar. Swap soy sauce with Tamari, Coconut aminos or Bragg liquid aminos.
Consistency: For a thicker soup, increase the quantity of cornstarch by 1 to 2 teaspoons.
Gluten-free soup: For a gluten-free soup, use tapioca starch or potato starch to thicken the soup, instead of cornstarch (cornflour).
Scaling: This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to make a big batch of soup.

Nutrition