I have no complaints living 20 minutes from the closest incorporated town, but I will admit I sometimes miss the occasional take-out Chinese suppers. One Chinese dish I particularly crave from time to time is Hot and Sour Soup.
Not too long ago I ran across a crock pot recipe on A Year of Slow Cooking blog for a Hot and Sour Soup that I thought looked especially tasty. I didn’t feel the need to let it cook for a few hours in the crock pot, so I modified it a bit and cooked it for about an hour on the stove top.
Not only is this a great soup, it’s low calorie and healthy. And that’s great, but sometimes it’s nice to splurge a little – like on Won Ton strips. There is just nothing like those little Won Ton strips some Chinese restaurants include with Hot and Sour soup. Bernie found some in our grocery store and bought them but they were ridiculously expensive for that tiny little bag. So the next time I decided to make Hot and Sour soup, we just picked up some Won Ton wrappers and I made my own. And they tasted pretty good!
The Hot and Sour Soup recipe on the A Year of Low Cooking blog is a good one. I really like my Hot and Sour soup to be hot and sour! So I added a lot more red pepper flakes and vinegar. I also added some chili/garlic paste because I love chili/garlic paste. I omitted the water, and used more homemade chicken broth. I may have tweaked one or two other things. Below is my version is your taste buds are similar to mine:
Ingredients:
1 package of firm tofu – cubed
6 cups chicken broth
1 package of sliced mushrooms
1 can bamboo shoots – drained
1 can sliced water chestnuts -drained
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar – and then 3 tablespoons more when soup is finished
2 tablespoons chili/garlic sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (less if you don’t like your soup hot at all)
The Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a large soup pot.
Bring it to a boil, reduce heat, cover pot with lid, and let simmer for about 1 hour, or until mushrooms are very tender. When it is finished cooking, I stir in 3 more tablespoons of vinegar for a little more sour taste. Taste yours and see if you think it needs more vinegar.
While your soup is cooking, now is a good time to make those Won Ton strips. You’re going to need a package of Won Ton Wrappers.
Cover the bottom of a pan with about 1 inch of oil, place it on a stove burner, and turn the heat up to medium high. While that is heating, pull out a stack of Won Ton wrappers and slice them – I don’t know how wide I made the strips, but the stack looked like this when I finished:
I only made enough for a couple of bowls and used about 12 wrappers for that. If you are making enough for several bowls of soup, you’ll need to use more wrappers.
While the oil is heating, go ahead and separate all the strips from each other. I just put them in a pile when I separated them and didn’t worry with laying each strip out nicely or anything.
Now that the oil is hot, take a handful of the Won Ton strips and put them in the oil. It only takes a few seconds for them to brown and bubble up a bit. Then you’ll want to flip them over for a few seconds to brown the other side. Then remove them and put them on a paper towel to drain. Mine got a bit more done than I would have liked from just the few extra seconds I took to get a picture.
I suppose you can salt these as you remove them from the oil, but I didn’t use any additional salt on them.
Once your soup is finished, just sprinkle a few Won Ton strips on top and voila! A truly delicious Hot and Sour Soup with crunchy Won Ton strips!
Yep. You can live in the middle of no where and not miss a thing. Seriously. As long as there is a grocery store you can visit once a week or so……
Penny, that soup looks delicious! I love hot and sour soup. Thanks for sharing your recipe and tips.
By the way, those wonton strips look pretty darn evenly sliced to me. good job!
Yummy! Good for you too–tofu is really good for you.
I thought I had gotten over my craving for Chinese take-out…until I read this post. Am definitely going to try this recipe – thanks!
Now if I could just get the local pizza joint to deliver out here, I’d be all set.
Lilla – let me know if you try the recipe. We are quite pleased with it – but then, we don’t get out very often
CeeCee – I actually like tofu – Bernie does too, if he doesn’t know what he’s eating
Carson – Oh girl, you never get over that Chinese take-out craving……. And I posted a home made pizza recipe that we make every single Friday night…… but hold on to that thought. I’ve been perfecting it. And I think I may have gotten the crust down for a rather thin crust pizza. I’ll post that this week. It’s not Dominoes or Pizza Hut, but I think it’s a close 2nd….
We love Chinese food too, I’ll try your recipe and really look forward to your thin crust pizza recipe.
We don’t have delivery out here either, so we sometimes stop in town when we go.
Thanks for the recipes…….
Love Ya!
Thanks for the recipe, Penny. Am anxious to try it, but need the Wonton noodles first. Maybe tomorrow when I go to the city. I’m always afraid to try sweet and sour at a restaurant as have to be careful of too much spice-now I can control it mayself and enjoy. Looks yummy for a cold winter night, like this Thursday when we’re to get snow again in West Texas.
I’ve never had hot and sour soup, but the recipe looks interesting. I may have to try it.
Julie – let me know what you think if you make it. I’ve also learned to make Lo Mein, Hunan Beef, and Egg Rolls. Amazing what you can do if you have no other choice! And I will try to post the thin pizza crust recipe in the next few days. Like I said – it’s not cracker thin like Dominoes, but it’s really not bad.
Cotton Lady – You’re getting snow???? Good grief, the whole world’s gone crazy! But yes, you can control the heat in this recipe. Don’t add any of the red pepper flakes, and leave off the chili/garlic sauce. Add a teaspoon of minced garlic instead, and I think you will be pleased. Let me know if you make it, ok?
SVB – Oh my. You’ve never had hot and sour soup??? Oh my. It seriously may be worth trying…… it really is one of my favorite soups….. Are you as saturated down there as we are here? We actually have flooding from that little bit of rain last night. Such a crazy winter……
Penny I have never had that soup but yours looks so good. I may have to try it. Only my husband and son don’t like mushrooms, but my daughter do, so they may just have to skip it. that sounds so good and actually easy. I am always afraid to eat in Chinese rest. because I am not sure if they are really serving what they say they are. The last time me and a friend went to a local one a few months back and ordered a chicken dish and let me tell that chicken was white. I wouldn’t even taste it. wont go to that place anymore.
look forward to the pizza recipe also….
hope you get through the flooding. we have had such a mess, and I do not care for cold weather, but I wish it would stay frozen until spring so that way we won’t be slipping and sliding in the blasted mud and water. The whole top of my chicken run came off because of all the wind we have also had. My poor chickens…..
Oooooh, Lisa – I hope your chickens are ok! Did you get the coop roof fixed?????
I’ve been making egg rolls for years! When we were stationed at our first base, I had a few oriental friends and from then on I was hooked on their food. Every where we went from then on I had Asian friends and I was the only “white” woman they invited to their get togethers for eating. They told me I must be half asian! lol I learned a lot about their cooking and still cook a lot of their foods. I haven’t ever “shared” the recipes because a lot of people don’t like the “sour” or “hot” foods that they eat. I make a mean kimchi soup you might like.
It was actually the chicken run cover. Thank goodness it was the chicken coop roof. and Yep all my chickens are ok. Luckily noone was hurt, that would have broken my heart.
We are supposed to get blasted with a whole lot of snow this weekend, hope everything holds up. I bet you probably already have snow, are you supposd to get snow this weekend.
Do you know I tried this soup for the first time ever at PF Chang’s a month ago? Honestly, I have to say I really didn’t care for it. I liked hubby’s egg drop soup much better. But yours looks really good in that photo!!
I love thin crust pizza, so now I’ll just have to watch for your recipe!
Our 3 closest towns are 30 minutes away – east, south and north of us. What I hate the most is when I do go to town, with my list in hand, and I get halfway home and realize I forgot something!! Grrr. It just has to wait for the next trip to town, which sometimes is only once a week.
But I’ll never trade it to live in the city again!!!
Jebus, how I LOVE chinky take-away…. we rarely have it cos its so very expensive here for the 5 of us with usually others in tow…… but when we do I LOVE Kung Po Chicken which I could eat until the cows come home no matter how full I am LOL
seeing your soup, I now want a chinky for me breakfast and that is sooooooo wrong lol so I will have to make do with me marmite on toast
x
I made this for supper last night. I added carrots, cauliflower, and little celery to it and OMG was it good. The whole time I was eating I was wiping away sweat and sniffling like crazy but boy was it good.