Hot and Sour Soup – just 98p per serving

Having dour, tinned soup when on a diet can be enough to send people over the edge. The ‘healthy’ supermarket options are as dull as dishwater, whereas the more interesting varieties are often laden with sugars. Home-made soups, like Hot and Sour Soup from Pinch of Nom, is far more enticing and really good for you at less than 100 calories per serving.

If your fancying a Chinese, why not have this as a starter followed by sweet and sour chicken, yeung chow fried rice or chicken satay? In total, you could have a fakeaway bonanza for less than 500 calories!

Recipe: Hot and Sour Soup

Calories: 98 per serving

Serves: 4

Book: Pinch of Nom – Everyday Light

Prep time: Approx 20 mins

Cooking time: Approx 10 mins

Ingredients:

• Low-calorie cooking spray
• 100g mushrooms (sliced)
• 4 spring onions (trimmed and sliced)
• 1 red chilli (deseeded and sliced)
• 2 garlic cloves (peeled and minced or grated)
• 1 litre vegetable stock (2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 1 litre boiling water)
• 2 carrots (peeled and cut into thin strips ‘julienne’)
• 75g baby corn (cut into 5mm thick slices)
• 120g tinned bamboo shoots (drained)
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• ¼ / ½ tsp xanthan gum
• 1 egg

Cost per portion: Approx £0.98

Method:

Spray a large saucepan or wok with low-calorie cooking spray. Add the mushrooms, spring onions, sliced chilli and garlic and stir-fry over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until they are soft. Add the stock, carrots, baby corn, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, vinegar and chilli flakes.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, sprinkle over ¼ teaspoon of xanthan gum to thicken, and stir well. If you prefer your soup a little thicker, add more, a tiny amount at a time, until the soup has reached your preferred consistency.

Crack the egg into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork.

Return the pan to the heat, then slowly drizzle the egg into the hot soup, while stirring. The egg will cook as it hits the hot soup and will become fine threads. Ladle into four warm bowls and serve.