BM#4 Day 3: Hot & Sour Soup

While I was going through my recipe book for soup recipes, I found this hot & sour soup. I don’t know where I got this recipe and I wrote it down a long time ago, before coming to the US. I started collecting and writing down recipes soon after my marriage and can not recall the source of this recipe.  I gave up on Indo Chinese recipes I collected from India, as the recipes don’t come out that well. That is probably due to the ingredients. We do not get the same ingredients that we get in India and ones we get here don’t taste like the ones back home. Hence, I stopped trying the Indo Chinese recipes I got from back home. I am not very fond of hot & sour soup and I never made this soup after coming here. Today, I tried it and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. The substitution of ingredients kind of messed up the taste but little bit of tweaking  made it palatable.

Total Time: 13 – 15 minutes
Preparation: 3 – 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

• ½ – 1 tsp. Oil
• 1 ½ tbsp. chopped Beans
• 1 ½ tbsp. chopped Carrots
• 1 ½ tbsp. chopped Cabbage
• 2 cups Vegetable Stock
• 1 tbsp. Corn Flour
• 1 tbsp. Brown Rice Vinegar (Can use any vinegar)
• 1 tbsp. Tamari Sauce (substitute soya sauce)
• 1 – 2 tsp. Sriracha Chili Sauce (I used 3 tsp. and it was very spicy. Add a pinch of sugar to cut down the spice)
• Pinch of Sugar (optional. My soup became very spicy as I added 3 tsp. of chili sauce. Hence add little sugar)
• 1 tbsp. Tomato Sauce (I did not use it)
• ¼ tsp. Pepper Powder
• ¼ – ½ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
• Spring Onions for garnish

Preparation:

• Heat the oil in a pan. Reduce the heat to low and sauté the vegetables for a minute.
• Add stock and bring it to a boil.
• Meantime, mix the rest of the ingredients, except green onions to a smooth paste.
• When the stock begins to boil, reduce the heat, add the corn flour and sauce mixture to the stock and stir immediately. Make sure no lumps are formed. Let it boil for 2-4 minutes or until the soup thickens.
• Garnish with spring onions and serve hot.

Suggestions:

• For chicken soup, sauté some shredded chicken along with the vegetables.