the vegetarian environmentalist

 

There’s this vegan hot and sour soup at our nearby Chinese place that I crave often…it’s so good. So I did a little searching for veggie recipes that don’t require hard-to-find things like essence of forest flowers, and came up with this one.

The thing is it’s totally different than what I order at the restaurant. For example, I tried it with apple cider vinegar, but think this red wine vinegar substitution will make it less sweet. I also think it’s very important to get Chinese black mushrooms–I got a basic forest mix and they also added too much weird flavor. And I cut the salt content down. Try it and tell me what you think!

8 cups Vegetable stock
1 oz. dried Chinese black mushrooms
3 tbsp. Dry Sherry
½ cup Red Wine Vinegar
2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 tsp. Salt
¼ pound firm Tofu, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. Cornstarch
2 Eggs, beaten
6 Green Onions, minced
¼ tsp. white pepper (I used black)
Dash sesame oil

Bring two cups vegetable stock to a boil, and, in a small bowl, pour over dried mushrooms. Cover with plate and let sit 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze mushrooms, saving the liquid. De-stem mushrooms, discard stems, and slice caps.

On medium heat, combine remaining 6 cups vegetable stock with mushroom liquid and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer.

Add sherry, soy sauce, salt, and tofu, lower heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch into ¾ cup of the soup until dissolved. Return this liquid to the soup.

In the same bowl, beat the eggs and then add a small amount of soup to bring up to temperature. Add back into the soup while stirring.

Add green onions and pepper, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Serve with a few drops of sesame oil on top of each serving.

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