Loved it. Really! Things I left out: wood ear mushrooms; tiger lily buds, bamboo fungus, tofu, white pepper, dried mushrooms, and chili oil. Things I added: entire package of shitake mushrooms (about 6 oz), a quarter cup of miso, about 6 oz thick Chinese noodles, Sriracha to taste, and some leftover water chestnuts. I think you could do almost anything with this recipe and it would work well... more veggies, add chicken (if you eat meat), etc.

Very good recipe, as good or better than from a restaurant. I did not have wood ear or shitake and so I just sliced up some regular mushrooms... Also, like a few of the other reviewers, I did not use the bamboo fungus or lilly buds. I substituted bamboo shoots for the fungus, but found out afterwards that bamboo fungus is actually a type of mushroom that grows on bamboo. You can find it at an Asian grocery store - it is dried, looks like pasta noodles, and is called "long net stinkhorn". Also, if you did not already know, to make the soup "crackers" that are served in Chinese restaurant, get some wonton wrappers (I found mine in the frozen section of the Chinese grocery store) - these thaw quickly and are doughy shavings that fry up very quickly.

I've made this several times now, and I think i've got it down...my version is NOT vegan as I prefer to add a beaten egg at the end...I always add some bamboo shoots which I cut into strips, and the tofu I use is already cubed...I leave out some of the more exotic ingredients (no tiger lily buds or bamboo fungus) but I include everything else...this is a really yummy, cold weather type soup that I will make again and again

Excellent recipe... thanks!

This is a really neat recipe, thank you so much! I changed it a little bit; I couldn't find bamboo fungus, so I used chopped up bamboo shoots instead. I have never used rehydrated mushrooms before, so I was really excited about that. The texture came out just like the restaurant versions. The flavor is a little bit richer, I think, and less sweet... I don't think most restaurants use the mushroom stock, but I cannot imagine having thrown it away! Overall a great recipe, thanks again!

Some of the ingrediants were pretty hard to find, but the soup was very good.