In separate bowls, soak the lily buds, tree ears, wood ear, and shiitake mushrooms until they are soft.
Drain the tree ears and wood ear. Rinse to remove grit, and pick out any inedible bits. Trim to bite-size pieces.
Drain the lily buds and cut off the hard ends. Cut them in half.
Drain the mushrooms, cut off the stems, and rinse out any remaining sand. Cut the caps in thin slices. Combine with the tree ears, wood ear, and lily buds.
Cut the tofu into cubes 1/4 - 1/2 inch in size.
Bring the stock to a simmer over medium heat. Add the tree ear, wood ear, lily buds and mushrooms. Slip the tofu in. Stir gently. Cook until the stock boils. Stir the cornstarch mixture to recombine, then pour it into the soup. Stir until the liquid becomes glossy. Add vinegar and pepper, stir, and turn off the heat.
Immediately add the egg, stirring as you pour. Garnish with sesame oil and scallions and serve.
This soup keeps refrigerated for several days, and can be frozen.
This recipe is modified from one in The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp.
Have a party. Ask each of the guests to bring any vegetarian item. If no vegetarians are expected to be at your party, any food item will do but you're safer with vegetarian items.
Place a rock in a large stock pot. For best results, it should be nonporous and large enough so that it won't accidentally end up in someone's dish. Add and bring to a simmer a whole bunch of vegetable stock.
Add the whatever the guests brought, in order of required cooking time. Raw, hard veggies in larger pieces should go in before other things. Add soft things and noodles last.
As the soup cooks down, extra fluid will be required. Use whatever beer, wine, soda or fruit juice anyone happens to have brought. I'm not kidding about this. Season with whatever you happen to have handy- whatever looks good.
I have a stone soup party every fall, on the first Saturday of November. The soup is always good, and different every year. I use the same stone, and keep it on my hearth to remind me of the community spirit present in a stone soup. It's heartwarming.
The concept is from the children's story Stone Soup, which takes many forms. For my party, I check out every version I can find from my local library.
Soak the shiitake mushrooms until they are soft. Drain, cut off the stems, and rinse out any remaining sand. Cut the caps in thin slices.
Slice the scallions into thin rings. Remove the seeds and ribs from the fresh peppers, and cut into short thin strips. Be careful handling peppers. Protect your eyes, and wash your hands thoroughly after handling fresh or dry peppers.
Sauté the garlic in peanut oil until just golden. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the brown sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Adjust to taste.
If you are using dried peppers, crumble them in now. Add coriander and the mushrooms. Bring the soup to a boil, and add the rice noodles. Cook until the noodles are soft and add the remaining vegetables.
This soup keeps well in the refrigerator for about a week, but may need fluid added.