This was my favourite soup when I used to order Chinese in India.I think Indian Chinese tastes the best and I dont really like the Chinese fare available in the US. The only exception to that rule is P F Changs.I love going there and sampling the spicy dishes on the menu.In Bombay there are many red Chinese carts serving delicious fried rice,manchurians,spring rolls and the works.It is quite affordable and there are many Chinese restaurants that have opened up recently.My most favourite was Uncle’s Kitchen in Malad. I must have tasted almost everything on their menu and each and every dish is lip smacking delicious. Since I hardly enjoy Chinese food here, I thought I would give this soup a try.I had some vegetables in the pantry and bought a packet of mung sprouts and mushrooms from the grocery store as I wanted to make it all the more healthy. The mung sprouts were a surprise delight as they were quite crunchy inspite of all the saute’ing and the boiling. The results were delicious and the soup was finished in no time !!!

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 Ingredients

1 cup carrots diced
1/2 cup beans chopped
1 cup mushrooms sliced
1 cup mung sprouts
1/4 cup green capsicum diced
2 to 3 spring onions/scallions chopped
1 onion finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 inch piece of ginger grated
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Louisiana hot sauce (or any other preferred hot sauce)
1 to 2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp cornflour
4 cups vegetable stock
1/4 tsp ground pepper
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar 
2 tbsp oil

Method:

Heat oil.Add the onions ,garlic and ginger.Saute till onions are transparent

Add in all the vegetables except spring onions/scallions and saute for about 5 minutes on a medium flame.

Then add the soy sauce and hot sauce and stir it for about 2 minutes

Add about 3 and half cups of vegetable stock and boil it till the vegetables are almost done.

Then add the cornflour to the remaining 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and dissolve it.

Add this to the soup alongwith vinegar and ground pepper.Check for salt.Add in the sugar.

Stir it and bring to a boil.Add the chopped scallions and remove from flame after a couple of minutes.

Serve hot.

PS:I am sending this to the “No croutons required” event at Lisa’s Kitchen.

I am also sending this to Bindiya for her “Chinese Food” event.