Mushroom Noodle Soup

Cooking time: ~5 minutes, plus 20 minutes beforehand to let the stock develop

Ingredients:

• ~6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 dried noodle cake
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine or mirin
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• optional: a few drops (to taste) hot sauce
• optional: ~4 wantons

Instructions:

1. Place the shiitake in a bowl, cover with hot water. Since they float, you can use a second bowl to push them down under the water level. Let them stand for at least 20 minutes.
2. Separate the shiitake from the stock. Put the stock in a soup bowl, and top up with water until the bowl is about half full.
3. Optional: prepare wantons.
4. Put stock, soy sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil and hot sauce in a small pot. Heat to boiling, add noodles.
5. While the noodles are cooking, slice the shiitake into thin strips. Add the shiitake (and wontons if you're using them) to the pot.
6. Cook until the noodles are soft.
7. Serve! Serves 1 as a meal, or 2 as entrees.

Okay so. I posted this up quiiiiiiiiiiite a while ago on the vegancooking community on lj. The recipe has evolved a bit since then, but I thought I'd put it up here anyway so I can keep track of it. I've also come up with a more Thai-style variation of the sauce, so I'll post that up soon :D

( Satay stir-fry )