Peking soup made with the Thermomix® tastes just like the Chinese restaurant in 35 minutes, as long as the balance of sweet, sour and heat is right: 15 g sugar, 20 g white balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp Sambal Oelek. That is the three-pillar formula of the classic hot and sour soup from Beijing, the kind you find at every good Asian restaurant. Our recipe takes its own approach: 250 g chicken breast cut into strips rather than pre-sliced chicken as in many Vorwerk recipes, soya bean sprouts as well as bamboo shoots, and tomato puree instead of just ketchup for more depth.
We have been making this Peking soup ever since our first trip to Asia, with a quiet craving for home, and we have refined the recipe over several attempts. The trick lies not in exotic ingredients but in the order of preparation and the egg thread technique at the end.
Peking Soup with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 16 ✓
- 1 shallot
- 50 g carrot
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 180 g chicken breast fillet
- 50 g shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- 15 g sugar
- 500 g vegetable stock
- 70 g bamboo shoots jar
- 70 g soya bean sprouts jar
- 20 g white balsamic vinegar white
- 10 g soy sauce
- 30 g tomato puree
- 1 tsp Sambal Oelek
- 1 egg
Instructions 0 / 6
-
1
Chop the shallot.
Peel the shallot, place it in the mixing bowl and chop for 3 sec / speed 5.
-
2
Chop the carrot.
Wash, trim and peel the carrot, cut into pieces, add to the mixing bowl, chop for 2 sec / speed 5 and push down with the spatula.
-
3
Sweat the vegetables.
Add the oil and sweat for 3 min / Varoma / reverse direction / speed 1.
-
4
Slice the meat.
Meanwhile, cut the chicken breast fillet into strips about 1 cm thick. Wash and trim the mushrooms and slice them.
-
5
Cook the soup.
Add the chicken breast strips, mushrooms, salt, pepper, sugar, vegetable stock, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, vinegar, soy sauce, tomato puree and Sambal Oelek to the mixing bowl and cook for 13 min / 100°C / reverse direction / speed 1.
-
6
Whisk the egg and serve.
Set to reverse direction / speed 1, whisk the egg in a small bowl, place it on the mixing bowl lid and let it drip in slowly through the opening with the measuring cup inserted.
Tip: If you like more heat, add a little extra chilli paste to taste.
Nutrition per serving
The three-pillar formula: sweet, sour, hot
Authentic Peking soup (Chinese: Suan-La-Tang, literally sour-hot soup) depends on three flavour axes that must be in balance. 15 g sugar provides the base sweetness, 20 g white balsamic vinegar the acidity, 1 tsp Sambal Oelek the heat. Plus 10 g soy sauce and 30 g tomato puree for umami and colour.
Leave out any one of these three axes or under-season it and the soup falls flat. Get all three in the right quantities and you get the typical aroma that every Peking soup fan recognises immediately. White balsamic vinegar instead of rice vinegar gives a rounder result, but it is not essential. If you do not have white balsamic to hand, a mild light vinegar works just as well.
Chicken breast in strips, not cubes
Strips about 1 cm thick are the optimum. Cubes feel too chunky in the mouth, thicker strips chew tough. Thinner than 1 cm and they fall apart during cooking. 180 g chicken breast fillet is enough for 2 servings. To feed 4 people, simply double the entire recipe.
Shiitake mushrooms are the second essential ingredient. They provide umami and the characteristic woody flavour. Button mushrooms work in a pinch but noticeably change the character. 50 g dried shiitake, soaked in 200 ml hot water for 30 minutes, would be the more authentic option. Fresh ones work well too.
Authenticity boosters: sesame oil and ginger
In our base recipe we use rapeseed oil as a neutral cooking oil. If you want a more authentic Chinese flavour, replace the 1 tbsp rapeseed oil with 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil. Sesame oil is the aromatic base of almost every Chinese soup and brings the typical Asian note that makes the soup instantly recognisable in a restaurant setting.
You can also add 2 cm of fresh ginger, chopped in with the shallot and carrot at the start. Ginger is the second classic Asian ingredient that appears in almost every Chinese soup recipe. We keep it optional here because many home kitchens do not always have fresh ginger on hand. With ginger the soup becomes spicier and more pungent, and closer to the original.
Bamboo shoots and soya bean sprouts: textural anchors
70 g bamboo shoots and 70 g soya bean sprouts provide the satisfying crunch that contrasts with the soft chicken and mushroom pieces. Jarred bamboo works perfectly well (available in every Asian aisle), and mung bean sprouts are the more precise soya bean alternative.
Both ingredients are added only in the final 13 minutes of cooking. Cook them for longer and you end up with a mushy Peking soup with no contrast.
The egg thread technique at reverse direction speed 1
The final egg step is the visual wow moment. Whisk 1 egg in a small bowl. Set the Thermomix® to reverse direction, speed 1. With the measuring cup inserted in the lid, pour the egg slowly onto the mixing bowl lid so that it drips in a thin stream through the opening into the hot soup.
The egg sets immediately and forms the characteristic threads (Chinese: Dan-Hua, egg flower). Reverse direction is essential: in normal direction the blades break the threads into crumbs. If you pour the egg directly into the boiling soup, you get a lump rather than threads.
Control the heat yourself: Sambal Oelek instead of chilli
We use 1 tsp Sambal Oelek (about 5 g). That gives a mild to medium heat level. Spice lovers can go up to 1 tbsp, but be careful: the heat develops fully only after 5 minutes in the hot soup. It is better to under-season and add more at the table.
If you do not have Sambal Oelek, you can make your own. Our Sambal Oelek with the Thermomix® is ready in 10 minutes and keeps for weeks in the fridge.
Spring onion garnish: the visual upgrade
Before serving, scatter 2 tbsp of finely sliced spring onions (green part only) over each bowl as a garnish. It is optional, but it makes a clear visual difference to a plain soup-from-the-pot look. In Chinese restaurants, almost every soup arrives at the table this way.
No spring onions to hand? 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds or 1 tbsp fresh coriander both work. Either brings the typical Asian table presentation and an extra layer of flavour.
Peking soup vs. hot and sour: same family, different accent
Peking-style soup has a slight sweetness at the fore, while the true hot and sour soup (Sichuan style) pushes the acidity harder. To get the Sichuan effect, use 30 g balsamic vinegar instead of 20 g and reduce the sugar to 10 g. The heat stays the same.
Vegetarian version: leave out the chicken and use 100 g tofu in strips plus a second type of mushroom (oyster mushrooms) for more umami. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Everything else stays the same.
Peking soup keeps for one day, do not freeze
It tastes best freshly made. In the fridge it keeps for 24 hours, but the bean sprouts lose their crunch and the egg softens. Reheat over a medium heat and do not bring it back to the boil (the chicken will turn tough).
Freezing does not work. The egg threads separate on thawing and the sprouts turn glassy. It is better to make a smaller batch fresh.
