Nothing like a steaming bowl of hot and sour soup to fight off the cold season!  This soup is surprisingly easy to make and can be as versatile as the ingredients in your fridge.  You won’t be calling for take out after you give this a try.

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tbsp sambal oelek (or any Chinese hot sauce)
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 4-5 tbsp rice vinegar (start with 4 and see how it tastes to you)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• shitake mushrooms
• thinly sliced red peppers
• thinly sliced cauliflower
• slivered snap peas
• 6 ounces extra firm tofu, cut in small pieces
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• green onions, thinly sliced

For a little extra protein, stir in some cooked chicken or pork.

Combine chicken broth, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, hot sauce and white pepper.  Bring to a boil, then simmer.

Stir in vegetables.  Be as liberal with the vegetables as you like, I like to pack the soup with a variety.

Mix rice vinegar with corn starch and stir while pouring the mixture into the pot.  Allow to gently boil and thicken.  If you need more thickening, add a mixture of 2 tbsp vinegar and 1 tbsp corn starch.

This is the point where you really need to taste …. how hot do you like it?  How sour?  Work with the white pepper and vinegar if you need a little more punch in your soup.  Once you like the flavour it is time to work in the eggs.

Whisk egg until creamy, then pour into the soup in a very slow, thin trickle, stirring the pot as the egg goes in to create those little streams that help give you that true hot and sour soup texture.

Garnish with the sesame oil and green onions.  Best served with these amazing scallion pancakes.