Vegan Tom Yum Soup Recipe

I love Tom Yum soup.  I have tried to make it a number of times and failed miserably.  This is the first time that I made it that it was actually good.  I used this recipe for the foundation and tweaked it to my own taste.  I also had some lovely, home-grown summer squash lying around, so I tossed it in.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth/stock

1 stalk lemongrass, sliced

3 whole kaffir lime leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed chili

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 thumb-size piece ginger, diced

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 teaspoon brown sugar

4 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lime juice

1 1/2 cups baby bok choy (cut off the bottom of the bok choy and separate the sprigs. If the pieces are large, slice the bok choy)

5-6 sprigs of fresh cilantro

Chili oil, to taste

(optional) 1 cup tofu, 1 cup quartered and sliced summer squash, and/or 1 cup cherry tomatoes

Preparation

• Put vegetable broth in a stock pot.  Add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, dried chili, garlic, and ginger. Boil for 5-8 minutes.
• Add the mushrooms. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5-8 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft.
• Add the brown sugar, soy sauce, and lime.  Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the bok choy (and any optional ingredients).  Remove from heat. 
• Do a taste-test.  If you want more heat, add a little chili oil. If you want it to be a little more salty, add some more soy sauce.  Add a little more lime juice, if you want it to be a little more sour.  If it is too sour, add a little more brown sugar.
• Serve with a little fresh cilantro.