Vegan Hot and Sour Soup

Directions

• Prepare Mushrooms. Lightly rinse dried shiitake mushrooms and dried black fungus to get rid of unwanted grit. Soak them together in a bowl with 1 cup of hot water (I use another bowl to make sure they are submerged) for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Slice them into thin strips.
• Preparation Other Ingredients. Prepare carrots, ginger, and scallions as instructed. Very carefully slice the silken tofu into thin batons (if this is too challenging, you can cut them into small cubes too). Roughly tear the yuba (tofu skin) apart into thin strands.
• Prepare Slurry & Seasoning. In a bowl, whisk together cornstarch, water, light soy sauce, darks soy sauce, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together black vinegar, rice vinegar, white pepper, and mushroom bouillon. Note: Make sure the white pepper is very well dissolved. We mix it here with the vinegar as it’s prone to clumping when directly added to the soup.
• Make the Soup. In a pot, add water, mushroom-soaking liquid, ginger, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and black fungus. Bring to a boil over medium heat then carefully add your silken tofu (I lift them up with a knife to avoid breaking them). Give the cornstarch slurry a final stir (to make sure the slurry is homogenous), and slowly swirl it into the soup to thicken. Add more cornstarch (dissolved in equal parts water) to thicken even more, or add more water if the soup becomes too thick. Once thickened, remove the pot from heat and add the vinegar & white pepper mixture, along with yuba (tofu skin) and scallions. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt. Garnish with more scallions and/or fresh cilantro leaves, and drizzle with toasted sesame oil. Serve warm.