Hot and sour soup
Chinese suan la tang, literally sour-hot soup, in which the heat comes not from chilli but from a great deal of white pepper, and the sourness from black rice vinegar. Both fade with boiling, so they go in at the very end, off the heat — they carry exactly what the soup exists for. The second rule is even cutting: everything in thin matchsticks so every spoonful holds it all.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the mushrooms 30 min
- Cutting into matchsticks 15 min
- Cooking and thickening 10 min
- Egg 3 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak both kinds of mushroom
Cover the shiitake and wood ear with warm water for 30 minutes. Strain and keep the shiitake water — a concentrated umami stock that goes into the soup. Discard the wood ear water, which can be gritty.
Ingredients: 6 pcs dried shiitake · 10 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 200 g firm tofu · 100 g bamboo shoots · 150 g pork loin · 1200 ml stock
Cut everything into thin matchsticks
Cut the tofu, bamboo, mushrooms and meat into matchsticks 5 cm long. Uniform shape is function, not looks: matchsticks suspended in a thick soup land on the spoon together.
Ingredients: 6 pcs dried shiitake · 10 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 200 g firm tofu · 100 g bamboo shoots · 150 g pork loin · 1200 ml stock
Matchsticks — every spoonful gathers a little of each.Boil the stock with meat and mushrooms
Bring the stock and shiitake water to a boil, add the mushrooms and the meat (if using) and cook 4 minutes. Then add the bamboo, tofu, soy sauce and sugar and cook 2 minutes more. Add the tofu gently so it does not break.
Ingredients: 6 pcs dried shiitake · 10 g dried wood ear mushrooms · 200 g firm tofu · 100 g bamboo shoots · 150 g pork loin · 1200 ml stock
Thicken with a cornflour slurry
Mix the cornflour into the cold water and pour it in a thin stream, stirring. Cook a minute until the soup thickens and turns glossy. It should be as thick as thin custard — that is what keeps the components suspended.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp soy sauce · 4 tbsp black rice vinegar · 1½ tsp white pepper · 1 tsp sugar · 3 tbsp cornflour · 4 tbsp water
As thick as thin custard — everything must float in it.Drizzle in the egg over a spoon
Stir the soup in a circle and pour the beaten egg in a thin stream over the back of a spoon, without stirring for 20 seconds. The egg sets into fine silky ribbons; then draw the spoon gently through and cook half a minute more. Stirred at once it breaks into tiny flecks.
Ingredients: 2 pcs eggs · 1 tsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp chilli oil · 3 pcs spring onions
Over a spoon into swirling soup — ribbons form.Take it off the heat before the acid
Take the pot off the heat. From now on the soup must not boil. The aroma of the vinegar and the bite of the white pepper fade quickly when the soup boils — which is why both go in at the very end.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp soy sauce · 4 tbsp black rice vinegar · 1½ tsp white pepper · 1 tsp sugar · 3 tbsp cornflour · 4 tbsp water
Add the vinegar and white pepper
Stir in the black vinegar and freshly ground white pepper. Taste: the soup should prickle the throat with pepper and be clearly sour. If it does not prickle, add more pepper — that is the heat in the name.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp soy sauce · 4 tbsp black rice vinegar · 1½ tsp white pepper · 1 tsp sugar · 3 tbsp cornflour · 4 tbsp water
Finish with oil and spring onion
Drizzle with sesame oil, ladle into bowls and add a few drops of chilli oil and chopped spring onion to each. Serve at once, while the vinegar and pepper are at their most vivid.
Ingredients: 2 pcs eggs · 1 tsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp chilli oil · 3 pcs spring onions
Before you start
White pepper, not black
White pepper has a more searing, less aromatic heat with a faintly earthy note that is characteristic here. Black gives a good but different soup. Grind it fresh — ready-ground white pepper loses its bite fast.
Chinkiang black vinegar
Zhenjiang vinegar is dark, sweetish and malty, closer to balsamic than spirit vinegar. Without it, mix rice vinegar with a little balsamic, three to one.
Best straight away
A cornflour-thickened soup turns thin when reheated, as the starch loses its hold. If any is left, reheat without boiling, add fresh vinegar and pepper and thicken with a teaspoon of cornflour.
