Hot & Sour Vegetable Soup Recipe | Hot & Sour Veg and Tofu Soup

Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

This has to be the shortest autumn here in my neck of wood. We enjoyed long, sunny and unbelievably warm summer this year. Just when the leaves turned to gorgeous shades of yellow, red and orange, the gushing wind and heavy downpour undressed the trees and now they stand almost naked with few leaves hanging there for their dear life. With dropping temperature and cold wind blowing at high speeds, UK is officially ready to welcome winter. Brrrr….

My long jackets, winter cloths, ankle length boots, colourful scarves and caps are all set to adorn its owner, although, the owner herself was not yet ready to give up her summer cloths and light cardigans and jackets. As much as she tried to sport colourful summer dresses, the weather god decided to teach her a lesson. And alas!!! Here I am with funny nose which irritates and frustrates me by sometime acting like stubborn blocked nose and sometime in the sorry state of runny nose!!! With a Jugalbandi of blocked nose at night and runny nose in the day, I had lost my sleep and appetite!

Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

Hot and Sour Vegetable and Tofu Soup

I needed move quickly before my nose played any trick on me. As medicine was out of option, I decided to use ever faithful spices in cooking some delicious bowls of soup to lift my mood and also clear my head! The soup in question was my ever faithful and favourite Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup. Couple of vegetables, aromatic herbs and spices and few minutes later you end up slurping piping hot bowl of delicious and uplifting Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup. I was generous with the number of vegetables used and also used some Tofu to the finished dish. You can use any vegetables of your liking and leave out tofu. With so many vegetables packed with nutrition, this Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup was a whole meal in itself. I made enough to last for two days and the flavours were much better when I had it on next day. While the heat from black peppercorns, ginger and green chillies cleared my blocked nose, the crunch from vegetables and the flavour from garlic lifted my mood. All in all, Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup still tops my favourite soup list!

Lots of vegetables for Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

Fresh herbs and spices used in Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

And some sweet pineapple too

The end result is piping hot, delicious bowl of Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

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Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup
Prep Time: 5-15 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Recipe Level: Basic/Beginner
Spice Level: Medium to Hot
Serves: 4-6 people
Shelf Life: Best served fresh but can be refrigerated for 2 days
Serving Suggestion: As an appetizer or main meal

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Ingredients:
1 inch Ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips or julienned
2 Green Chillies, slit or finely chopped (I used Thai Chillies, Adjust acc to taste)
3-4 large Garlic cloves, chopped
1 small Onion, roughly chopped
½ cup Silken/Firm Tofu, cut into ½ inch cubes (Optional)
1 tbsp Soya Sauce
½ tbsp Red Chilli Sauce (Adjust acc to taste)
½ tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce (Optional)
1 tbsp Tomato Sauce/Ketchup
About 6-7 cups Boiling Water
1 tbsp Corn Flour, dissolved in ¼ cup water
1 tbsp Oil (Preferably toasted Sesame Oil)
Salt and Black Pepper Powder to taste

Vegetables Used:
Use around 4-5 cups of mixed vegetables of your choice. Here is the list of vegetables I used.
1 cup Cabbage, shredded
1-1½ cups Capsicum/Bell Peppers, cut into ½ inch squares (I used combination of red, yellow and green)
½ cup fresh/frozen Green Peas
½ cup fresh/frozen/canned Sweet Corns
½ cup Mushrooms (I used Button Mushrooms)
½ cup Beans (I used French Beans. Sugar Snaps will work wonderfully)
½ cup Pineapple, cut into 1 cm cubes (Optional but recommended)

One bowl for me…

And one for you too!

Method:

1. Dissolve corn flour in ¼ cup of water to make thin paste and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan to smoking hot and add finely chopped garlic. Toss them for half a minute.
3. Next add finely chopped green chillies along with chopped onions and ginger and toss them for a minute.
4. Add chopped bell peppers and toss them for a minute or two.
5. Next add mushrooms and stir fry them for a minute or two till they start to sweat and release their water.
6. Now add all the vegetables one by one and stir fry them for a minute or two.
7. Mix in soya sauce, red chilli sauce, sweet chilli sauce and tomato sauce or ketchup and toss them well.
8. Now slowly add boiling water to stir fried vegetables and let it cook for 3-5 minutes.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste along with tofu and pineapple.
10. Mix in corn flour dissolved in water little at a time and stirring continuously so as no lumps are formed. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes till the soup thickens little bit and also vegetables are cooked and yet retains their crunch.
11. Serve piping hot soup immediately and see its magic work on blocked nose and heavy head!

Slurp, slurp, slurp… Ahhhh… Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup

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Sia’s Notes:

• I don’t cook my vegetables for long as I like the crunch bite in them. And also cooking them for long means losing its nutrition!
• This version makes little thin and runny Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup and that’s how I like it. You can add more corn flour dissolved in water if you prefer your soup to be thick.