Hulatang recipe: Henan's hot and sour pepper soup

Hulatang is Henan's answer to a cold morning: a thick, glossy soup carried by white pepper and black vinegar rather than chilli heat, now on the opening menu at Chi Pot Pot, London's new Henan specialist in Holborn.

The name translates roughly as "pepper hot soup", and in Luoyang, where it is most closely associated, stalls sell it from dawn as a breakfast dish, thickened with cornstarch until a spoon stands up in it. The base is traditionally vegetarian, built on wheat gluten, but Chi Pot Pot's xiaoyao-style version adds beef, which is the version this recipe follows.

Ingredients

Hulatang takes its name from a heavy pepper hit, which should lead the sourness rather than trail it.

• 200g beef flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce, plus 1 tbsp for the broth
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 3 tsp cornstarch, divided
• 1.2 litres beef stock
• 100g firm tofu, cut into thin strips
• 15g dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked and sliced
• 10g dried day lily buds, soaked and halved
• 2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
• 1½ tsp ground white pepper
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• Chilli oil, to serve

Method

1. Toss the beef with 2 tbsp soy sauce, the Shaoxing wine and 1 tsp cornstarch, then set aside for 15 minutes. The starch coats the meat so it stays silky in the hot broth instead of toughening.
2. Bring the stock to a simmer in a wok or large pot.
3. Add the beef, stirring to separate the slices, and simmer for 2 minutes until just cooked. Add the tofu, wood ear and day lily buds, and simmer for 3 minutes more.
4. Stir in the remaining 1 tbsp soy sauce, the black vinegar, white pepper and black pepper. Add the pepper before the vinegar fully settles in: hulatang takes its name from this heavy pepper hit, which should lead the sourness rather than trail it.
5. Mix the remaining 2 tsp cornstarch with 3 tbsp water, stir it again as it settles fast, then pour it into the soup in a thin stream while stirring in one direction, until the broth turns glossy and coats a spoon.
6. Turn off the heat. Drizzle in the beaten egg in a thin stream, wait five seconds, then stir once. This sets the egg into ribbons rather than scrambling it into grit.
7. Taste and adjust: more vinegar for brightness, more pepper for heat. The balance should lean sour-hot rather than salty.
8. Ladle into bowls, scatter with spring onions, and finish with a spoon of chilli oil.

A soup built for a cold morning

In Henan, hulatang is drunk rather than eaten with a spoon, scooped up with torn youtiao (fried dough sticks) or a flatbread for dipping. A bowl at breakfast, with the pepper doing the waking-up, is the dish's original job, long before it reached a 20-seat room in Chi Pot Pot's Holborn opening.

Can hulatang be made vegetarian? Yes: skip the beef and marinade, and use vegetable stock and extra tofu and wood ear for texture — the pepper and vinegar carry the dish either way.

Leftovers thicken further in the fridge; thin with a splash of hot stock and extra vinegar when reheating, since cornstarch loses some bite as it cools.