Hot & Sour soup - yum!

I've always been hesitant to try Hot & Sour soup (or any soup) at Chinese or Thai restaurants, because I'm never sure what broth they use, whether there is fish sauce, or other vegetarian paranoia. However, I found a great recipe on the internet - so I can control what goes into it and ensure that it is truly vegetarian - and it is delicious! It even freezes well, so I've been eating it lots in the past couple weeks. I made my batch nice and spicy, and it has a yummy, salty, garlicy/gingery broth.

For meat-eaters, it would be easy to add cooked chicken or other meat of your choice, and/or use a different broth than veggie.

Hot & Sour Soup
* a couple tablespoons olive oil
* 3-4 cups water
* 3-4 cups stock (veggie)
* 1/8 - 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
* 1/8 - 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used tamari)
* 1/2 - 1 t red pepper flakes
* 1/2 -1 t mustard powder
* 2" chunk fresh ginger, peeled and julienned (or grated or minced)
* 3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
* cornstarch (depends on how thick you want it, up to a 1/4 cup)
* 8-15 oz tofu, cubed
* toasted sesame oil (optional, I didn't use it in this first & only time I've used this recipe)
* Assorted frozen veggies (the kind I used had water chestnuts, snow peas, edamame, baby corn, bamboo shoots, carrots, onions, etc)
-AND/OR - misc fresh veggies:
* 1/4 lb mushrooms
* 1/2 a 5 oz can julienned/strip bamboo shoots, drained
* 1/2 a 15 oz can baby corn, drained
* 2 carrots, julienned
* 1-2 red or yellow peppers, sliced
* handful of snow peas, cut into bite size pieces
* 4-6 green onions, cut into 3/4" pieces

If using fresh veggies, slice veggies. If using frozen, defrost them in the microwave in a covered container with a few tablespoons of water (ok if they are still cold - just not frozen). Saute veggies in some of the oil & supplement with cooking spray if necessary, then add the garlic and ginger. As soon as the garlic and ginger are fragrant, add the stock & water. In a separate pan, saute cubed tofu in oil & cooking spray until browned on the outside (approx 15-20 min). While that is cooking, add red pepper flakes, mustard powder to the soup pot. Stir. When tofu is browned, add tofu to the soup and (if they weren't already in a frozen mix) bamboo shoots, baby corn, vinegar, and soy sauce. Let everything come to a boil.

Taste, adjust for hot, sour and salty taste (vinegar, soy sauce, white pepper or cayenne). Remove some broth to a small bowl, whisk in cornstarch until disolved and return to the pan and let it thicken. (I think if you added the cornstarch to the whole pot it would clump up and be difficult to make it disolve and disperse). If using fresh veggies, at this point add the carrots and peppers (if using fresh veggies) then a minute or two later add the snow peas. When the veggies are done, you can (but it is optional) drizzle in a teaspoon to a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil for flavor.