On 12/9/2019 I used Jeffrey Eisner's recipe for Hot & Sour soup from pressureluckcooking.com. It was very good, however I made some modifications and believe my second attempt will suit me better after documenting the modifications and suggestions.
The original ingredient list:
7-8 cups of vegetable broth (I used 7 tsp of Vegetable Better Than Bouillon + 7 cups of water; NOTE: using 7 cups vs. 8 creates an even more intense hot & sour flavor of the soup)
1 tbsp of canola oil
3 tbsp of rice vinegar
1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup of reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp of chili garlic sauce (or Sriracha will work fine too!)
1 tsp of sesame oilsesame oil
1.5 tsp of granulated sugar
2 tsp of ground ginger
1 tsp of white pepper
1.5 tsp of Kosher salt
1 bunch (or about 5 strands) of scallions, sliced
16oz of Baby Bella (Crimini) mushrooms, sliced (you can also use Shiitake mushrooms, just remove the stems)
16oz can of bamboo shoots, drained
8-10oz bag of baby spinach
8-14oz of firm or extra firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup of cornstarch + 1/4 cup water, for a slurry
2 large eggs, whisked
I didn't have sriracha, or the correct chili garlic sauce, so I used Louisiana hot sauce and used chicken base in place of the "better than bouillon", since I prefer this brand and had no vegetable base left having used it all the day before.
I also added diced chicken, hoisen sauce, sweet garlic chili sauce (contains honey as well as the peppers), white mushrooms & ginger. I omitted the salt & sugar, cut the sesame oil & baby bella quantities in half, and doubled the tofu because I did not want any leftovers.
I believe next time, I will either cut the tofu quantity in half, (Jeffrey's lowest estimated quantity would have been correct), or I will double the batch of soup. There was just way too much tofu for me with it being doubled though, and I would add at least one more box of mushrooms, and would repeat all of the additions I made. It really added to it giving it a much more robust flavor.
It turned out so good in fact that even my mother, who hates hot & sour soup, ate two bowls! That is the true test of whether something is good! lol!
