Hot & Sour Mushroom Soup with Bok Choy and Sweet Corn

This was dinner the other night. Of course the sweetcorn sank to the bottom for the picture, but I promise it was all there and pretty tasty too.

I used homemade veggie broth, which at my house, usually turns out kind of dark. The broth was lightly salted before adding it to the recipe, so depending on how much salt you like and/or how saltly the veggie broth you use is, you may want to adjust the amount of soy sauce you add.

Hot & Sour Mushroom Soup

6 cups veggie broth
1 stalk lemon grass
1/2 tablespoon of hot red chili flakes (or to taste)
1/2 inch fresh ginger (or to taste)
1/2 pound shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 large bunch of enoki mushrooms
 1 cup sweet corn kernels
1 large carrot, sliced in 1/4 inch peices (or as desired)
3 small (baby) bok choy, leaves separated
2 tablespoons soy sauce (or adjusted to saltiness of veggie broth)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or more to taste if you like it really sour)
1 teaspoon agave
1 teaspoon sesame oil ( I used toasted)
cilantro for finishing

Remove the tough outer leaves of the lemon grass and slice the stalk into very thin little rounds, and shred the ginger medium to fine with a grater. In a large pot, add the veggie broth, sliced lemon grass, shredded ginger, and the chili flakes, bring it to a simmer and allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Add the carrot, shitake, sweet corn, soy sauce, agave, and sesame oil, and allow to simmer for another 15-20 minutes. About 5 minutes before serving, add the lime juice and vinegar and toss in the bok choy.

To serve, put some enoki and cilantro in each bowl and ladle the hot soup over it. Garnish with more enoki and cilantro.

The enoki make a tender and delicious addition; to me, they taste kind of like soy bean sprouts.