Vegetarian Hot and Sour Soup

I crave Hot and Sour Soup when I get sick. I love it when it's so spicy it clears up my sinuses. This is a vegetarian version I've been playing around with. It has egg but you could omit that if you really wanted to. I recommend leaving the egg in the recipe unless you're going for a vegan dish.

The hardest part is the chopping. Once I started chopping I just kept going until I had everything chopped. I put half of everything in a big bowl and put it in the fridge for the next day. Hot and Sour soup on the second day is so much faster. You could just double the recipe and use everything at once.

I always crave this when I'm sick so I usually go for a pretty hot flavor. You can scale back on the pepper and chili garlic sauce and add more to taste.

I find that the trick to a restaurant taste is to let it cook for a long time so the tofu becomes less tofu-y. If you don't mind the tofu taste you can eat it a lot sooner. I think restaurants have a big pot on a burner and they just let it simmer until someone orders it.

Hot and Sour Soup

1 32 oz box Vegetable broth

2 cubes vegetable bouillon

2 cups water

1/4 c rice vinegar

1/8 c low sodium soy sauce

1-2 Tbsp Chili Garlic Sauce, start with 1 tbsp and increase to taste

1 pinch of sugar

1/2-1 tsp of finely ground white pepper

1/2 can of bamboo shoots, cut into matchsticks

1/4 package firm tofu, cut into matchsticks, drain on paper towel

2-3 green onions, chopped

1/2  package of gourmet mushroom blend, further sliced into thin pieces

3 Tbsp of corn starch

3 Tbsp cold water

1 Egg

Slices of green onion and La Choy Fried Rice Noodles to garnish (Optional)

Start with your tofu to give it time to drain.  Cut your tofu into matchsticks and place on a paper towel to drain. 

Add your broth, bouillon, water, vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, sugar and pepper to a soup pot. Allow it to come to a boil. Add vegetables and tofu and bring back to a gentle boil. Turn heat to simmer and place a lid on the pot. Allow to simmer for at least an hour. I don't like my tofu to taste like tofu so I cook it until it taste like something else. I left this particular batch simmering for just over two and a half hours. Yum!

In a small bowl or measuring cup, add your corn starch and the cold water and stir. Slowly add this to your pot while stirring. I add it 1/3 at a time, stirring slowly. You may not need all of it. This will thicken it up. Allow it to simmer a while longer for the corn starch to cook up and the soup to thicken.

In a small bowl or measuring cup (I rinsed and reused the same one), beat an egg with a fork. Beat it to within an edge of its life. You don't want any big pieces. Beating is good here.

Now...I have trouble with this part. But slowly stir the soup in one directions. While you are stirring it SLOWLY drizzle in your beaten egg in a small stream.

Continue to cook for another few minutes to make sure the eggs cook up.

Bowl it up with more sliced green onion and the La Choy Fried Egg Noodles on top.

The noodles add a nice crunch!

Veggie Pop Overs

Dinner is often the mother of invention. This time it worked out well. I had a few veggies and a can of Grands Biscuits and made a pretty awesome and tasty dinner. Yay me!

I made three different looking pop overs. I did this mainly because I was getting hungry and running out of patience. I'm please to report they were all awesome.


Version #1 was a biscuit rolled thin, topped and then folded over on itself. You can't over stuff these or they just bust out instead of pop over. Heh!

Version #2 was made with two biscuits rolled flat. The filling was added to one and the second biscuit placed on top.

Version #3 contained the last of the veggie stuffing tossed in a ramekin and topped with the last biscuit. I didn't roll it out but I did smash it a little to cover the surface of the veggies a little better.


Oh dear, where did the picture of the ramekin go?


Anyhoo...


Here's what I used but you can use just about any combination of meats and veggies you want. Just aim for a thick sauce at the end. If the veggies have too much liquid your biscuits will be soggy.


Preheat oven to 375


Line a cookie sheet with parchment


Veggie Filling:


1/2 Medium Onion
3 Cups of Sliced Mushrooms (About 2/3rds a container)
3 Cups of Kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups of Vegetable Stock
1/4 tsp of Thyme
1/4 tsp of Herbs de Provence 
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp pepper (I did about 8 turns of the pepper mill)
1 Cup Frozen Mixed Vegetables (Corn, Beans, Carrots and Peas variety is what I used)
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp flour
1/4 Parmesan Cheese


Heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, mushroom and spices and cook until they release their liquids and start cooking down. When the liquid is almost gone, add 1 cup of the stock and stir in the kale. Cover and let the kale steam and get tender. Add more broth as necessary to keep the steam going. Finally, stir in the frozen vegetables and the tablespoon of flour mixed in with a 1/2 cup of stock and the butter and cook for another 10 minutes or so or until you have a nice and thick sauce. It's ok to add more flour and stock to get it where you need it.


Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes


Pop Over:


Roll out your biscuits until they're about the size of small saucers. Fill them with 3-4 tablespoons of the cooked veggies and a pinch of cheese. Leave about 1/2' edge to seal the biscuits. Add another rolled biscuit to the top. Crimp the edges of the pop overs with the tines of a fork and stab the top of pop over 2-3 times with the fork to make steam holes. 


Bake for 13 minutes or until they're a golden brown.