Cold Day Vegan Hot and Sour Soup

It is hard to get your greens in winter in a cold country. Here's a delicious recipe to help.

  




All essential ingredients easy to find in rural North America in winter. Substitutes listed.

Basically, cook mushrooms until firm, throw everything in Instant Pot, when ready season to taste.

The idea is to eat your spinach, and the main strategy is vinegar and hot pepper.

Thanks to Karen Jennings' influence, I actually measured this time

COLD DAY HOT AND SOUR SOUP

 6 c broth
1/4 cabbage shredded
1/2 lb (225 g) mushrooms, regular or crimini
    sliced, sauteed in a little oil or soy sauce until firm and dry
      (to speed up mushroom prep: drain juices partway through cooking
            goal is to get them dry)
2 large carrots or half a huge one, shredded
300 g (about 10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 block tofu, cubed in approx 1 cm dice
    (Soyarie brand "firm" or "herb" preferred hereabouts, Farm Boy has it among others)
2 tbsp miso or 1 tbsp Better than Bouillon or 1 bouillon cube
1 tsp Sriracha (Rooster Brand or close facsimile) (subst 1/4 tsp tabasco plus 1 tsp sugar)
1/4 c rice vinegar (or subs plain vinegar)
1 c frozen corn
1 tsp finely shredded or tube ginger (if avail) (don't substitute powdered ginger in my opinion)

cook all (except miso if using) in Instant Pot (no keep warm, no quick release) 20 min.

After cooking stir in miso if using. Season to taste with black pepper, cayenne, turmeric, more vinegar. Add other chinese-friendly spices if inclined. Small amounts of sweetener can help, but avoid making a candy soup! Can thicken with corn starch if you're inclined.

Tip: I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian Beef if I can find it. There is also a Vegetarian Chicken . These are delicious but hard to find! Available in Canada by web order from well.ca . In America some of the larger grocery chains usually have it: Central Market in Texas, Woodman's in Wisconsin, are the examples I know.

Serving suggestion: Serve hot. For a special treat, sprinkle with sesame seeds, chopped scallions, and if you can find it, a little sesame oil.