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Hot and Sour Soup (InstantPot Version)

Restaurant-style Hot and Sour Soup - make your own at home!
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine asian
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Instant Pot or equivalent pressure cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 3-4 each large dried shiitake mushrooms it's easy to get carried away on the number of mushrooms - a little goes a long way
  • .25 cup wood ear mushrooms again, a little goes a long way
  • .25 pound pork, julienned I use a pork chop
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely minced
  • 1 tsp soy sauce for marinade
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup reserved liquid from soaking mushrooms
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce dark soy is best
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp ground white pepper
  • 1 tbsp ground black pepper or more to taste - provides a nice heat
  • 5 tbsp black vinegar or more to taste - impacts the sourness
  • .5 cup bamboo shoots, drained and julienned
  • 2 tbsp corn starch tempered in broth, added near the end
  • 1 cup firm tofu, cubed or cut into strips optional, depending on preference
  • 2 each eggs, lightly beated
  • 2 tsp sesame oil or more to taste - add with care!
  • 2 tsp chili paste or more to taste - adds heat
  • chili oil optional, to taste
  • chopped green onions to taste - usually a few stalks, both the white and lighter green parts

Instructions
 

Rehydrating the Mushrooms and Preparing the Pork

  • Place the shiitake and wood ear mushrooms in a glass bowl and pour boiling water over them. Soak for 20 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the mushroom liquid, discard the rest. Squeeze the liquid from the mushrooms. Slice the shiitakes and chiffonade the wood ear mushrooms.
  • While the mushrooms are soaking, place the pork in a small bowl and combine it with the ginger and teaspoon soy sauce. Set aside while you're preparing the other ingredients.

Prepare the Soup

  • Add the chicken broth, the reserved cup of mushroom liquid, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chile oil, chile paste (adding more according to desired level of heat), and pepper to the pot.
  • Add the pork, stirring to prevent the pork from sticking together (this is important!), the bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. Close the pot, and set to cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
  • While the mixture cooks, prep the egg mixture in a separate bowl. Lightly beat two eggs.
  • When the cook cycle is complete, allow a ten-minute natural pressure release.
  • After ten minutes, finish the pressure release. Remove the lid.
  • Set the pot to saute on high (it needs to keep boiling).
  • Remove a cup of liquid, and add the cornstarch to it. Return the mixture to the pot and allow to thicken.
  • Mix well. If the soup is too thin, the spices won't be in suspension, and will sink to the bottom of each soup bowl, so thicken more if needed.
  • If using tofu, add it now and simmer for another minute.
  • Gently stir the soup to get it all rotating in one direction, then pour the egg mixture in a steady stream into the simmering soup, turn the pot off, and let sit for a few minutes.
  • Stir gently.
  • Add the sesame oil and green onions. If desired, both can be added to each bowl, or added by the diner. Just a few drops of sesame oil are often sufficient!

Notes

If you choose to include tofu, firm tofu is fine. However, you may choose to press the tofu to remove some of the liquid. There's a nice article about doing that at thespruceeats.com.