A watercolour of a dark glossy broth with noodles and slivers of dark rehydrated mushroom
Generated with OpenAI gpt-image-1
Adapted from Chinese hot and sour soup

Hot and sour noodle soup

An established dish converted to shelf-stable ingredients. Every substitution is documented below.

How long it keeps

About 6 months, set by Mushrooms (dried).

Indicative, for planning a build before you buy. The answer for a pack you already own is the best before date printed on it, and that only holds if it has been stored as the label says.

Serves
3
Burners
1
Pans
1
Water
1 L
Active
10 min
Total
30 min

Ingredients

The two words in the name are the two things to get right, and both go in at the end where you can taste what you are doing.

  1. Dried mushrooms into a mug of boiling water for fifteen minutes. The soaking liquid is the stock and pouring it away is the mistake.
  2. Mushrooms chopped. Liquid into the pan through a corner of cloth if it is gritty, topped up to 800 ml, stock cube, ginger.
  3. Simmer five minutes. Noodles in and cooked.
  4. Cornflour slaked in cold water first, never dry into the pan, and stirred in. Two minutes to thicken and clear.
  5. Soy, vinegar and pepper off the heat, then tasted, then adjusted. This soup is a balance and the balance is personal.

Vinegar boiled hard goes flat, which is why it goes in last. If it tastes dull, it is almost always short of vinegar rather than short of salt.

Serves 3.

What this was adapted from

Chinese hot and sour soup: the balance of white pepper and vinegar in a thickened savoury broth

  • white pepper → black pepper and chilli flakes

    White pepper is the defining heat of the original and black is a poor stand-in, more aromatic and less penetrating. Chilli flakes cover the gap in heat if not in character.

  • fresh shiitake and wood ear → dried mushrooms rehydrated

    Dried mushrooms are arguably better here. The soaking liquid goes into the broth and carries more savoury depth than fresh mushrooms would.