Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup

- 1 cup of mushrooms of your choice, cleaned and sliced. 
- 32 oz. of low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 1/4 cups of water, divided
- 1 Tablespoon of minced (peeled) fresh ginger
- 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
- 1/2 cup of rice vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 carton of extra firm tofu, cut into cubes
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons of corn starch
- 1/2 cup of chopped green onions
- 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
- 3 teaspoons dark sesame oil, divided
- 1 Tablespoon to 1/4 cup of Sriracha 
- 1/2 cup of bamboo shoots (I buy canned already sliced)

1) Heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil over medium heat.  Saute mushrooms and tofu until tofu is browned and mushrooms are becoming soft. 


2)  In your soup pot add vegetable broth and 2 cups of water and bring to medium heat.  Add ginger and garlic, and bring to a boil.  Add mushrooms and tofu, reduce heat and let simmer for about 3-5 minutes.  Add vinegar, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and sriracha and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and let simmer for about 3-5 minutes. *** I love this to be a hot soup and use lots of sriracha.  I recommend adding it in by the Tablespoon until you reach desired level of heat.  It would work out to just add 1 Tablespoon here and then at the very end add more until you reach the level of heat for which you are aiming.

3)  In a separate small bowl whisk together corn starch and remaining water (1/4 cup).  Slowly pour into soup and continue to stir.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.  The soup will start to thicken during these 5 minutes and you should stir occasionally during that time.

4) Remove from heat and stir in green onions and cilantro.  Serve.  You can let the soup continue to simmer at this point until you ready to eat.  This recipe makes a large amount of soup.  We like to made the whole recipe and then have it for leftovers during the week.  If you aren't interested in that, this recipe cuts in half very easily.