This soup was so full and flavorful. The dollop of yogurt went well with the rest of the soup. Mine was a little thick due to evaporation since I forgot about it when it was cooking. It still turned out amazing. I will definitely make this soup again.

I was wondering if it is reasonable to substitute dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked and then diced) for the fresh?

Yes, dried can be substituted for fresh. Cheers!

I made this soup with 40 grams of dried shiitake mushrooms. I drained the soaking liquid from the mushrooms and used that, plus the bean pot liquid, for the stock. This soup is very hearty and flavorful. I particularly like that I can make it with basic ingredients that I have on hand in my pantry without an extra trip to the store.

Thank you!

Is there any problem adding the shitake stems? The mushrooms I bought have the stems and it seems like a waste not to use them. Since everything is pureed it can't be a visual reason. Do the stems affect the taste of the soup?

For a product that will be pureed, there should be no issue with stems. In general, they can be tough or fibrous, so they are not used in many dishes for this reason. The stems can also be frozen and used to make a Asian-style vegetable stock, so save them regardless. Enjoy!