Hot & Sour Soup For The Cold (And Winter)

Chicken noodles soup is supposedly the soup that ails cold and sneezing and all that jazz. But my husband and I prefer the Japanese Hot & Sour soup. It’s actually my husband’s favorite soup and lucky for him, I make a mean Hot & Sour soup.

When we went through the cycle of cold last month, Hubs and I were the 3rd and 4th recipient of it. At the same time. I asked my husband if he wanted soup at one point. He thought I was going to suggest a can of Campbell’s Chicken noodle soup so he didn’t seem enthusiastic about it. When I said “hot and sour soup” it quickly piqued his interest and said “that sounds really good”. So I made some.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pack of dried shitake mushrooms, soak in warm water for 30 minutes
2 boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
8-ounce package tofu
1 can of bamboo shoots, drained
3 cans chicken stock (water is fine if you don’t have stock)
1 tablespoon  Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp  rice vinegar
salt and pepper
cornstarch and water mixture (mix 2 tbsp of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water)
red pepper flakes

*Double the seasoning according to your taste.

Drain the mushrooms, squeeze out the excess moisture. Throw away the hard stalks. Slice the mushrooms in strips. chicken, tofu and bamboo shoots.

Using a wok, Bring the stock to a boil. Then add the tofu, chicken, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Bring back to a boil, then simmer ’till all the ingredients are cooked.

Add the rice wine (or sherry), soy sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Bring back to a boil, then finish the soup with the cornstarch mixture. Stir until thick in consistency.

Not only is the Hot and Sour soup good for the cold (maybe ) it’s also good to have during Winter days. The red pepper flakes alone would keep you warm . 

FYI : If the recipe seems familiar, it’s because I’ve posted the same thing at Forks.ca last year. This is my 3rd time, except with different pictures, in posting this recipe because I’ve posted this in my old Foodblog (Ilocana Chef) as well. At his point, I’m building up my archives again with prettier pictures .