vietnamese "fisherman's soup"

I love big soup bowls available from Asian restaurants around town -- brothy, full of vegetables, with a little protein (tofu or seitan). The exact ingredients vary by specific cuisine, but almost uniformly these soup bowls make me swoon. I love soups, but these soup bowls are worlds apart from the bean or bean and grain soups I normally pack for lunch. For lunch, I want something relatively hearty and and dense that will fill me up with a fairly small portion. For a soup bowl, I want a big, big bowl, lots of broth, and lots of veggies. This soup totally met my expectations of a soup bowl.

It is very light with no added oil, and it gets a special zing from canned pineapple chunks and juice added to the broth. This soup reminded me very much of soup I had at a local Vietnamese restaurant several months ago. You must serve it hot. The broth was perfect. The amount of sriracha sauce was just right to give depth of flavor without being "spicy." I did forget the sweetener (a tbs of agave or sugar)-- but, for my tastes, it didn't need it. I used all of the suggestions for easier to find North American substitutions, and this still turned out great.

If I could change one thing about this recipe, I would have more broth. But, I'm not complaining -- there was a lot of broth. The broth was so great, though, that I would have liked more. Also, if you are serving this on its own as a meal, keep in mind that it will serve closer to 2-3 rather than the 6 servings listed.