Chinese Egg Drop Soup

This week I was craving soup. I’m always craving soup though. But I didn’t want to make anything complicated. Perfect solution: Chinese Egg Drop Soup. Requires very few ingredients—chicken broth, eggs, scallions, and ginger, and a few seasonings. If you have homemade chicken broth even better. I chose to add a few shiitake mushrooms and corn because I like a little variety in my soup, but it’s not necessary. This soup is all about the eggs anyways. It’s clear and soothing. It’s supposed to be a very quick soup to make, but I tend to cook it longer than most recipes because I prefer a stronger ginger flavor. However, 45 minutes for soup is still fairly quick. Even though I freeze almost everything, I wouldn’t recommend freezing this soup only because cooked egg doesn’t freeze that well. If you want though, you can freeze the cooked broth without the egg and add the egg when you’re ready to eat it. Hope you like the soup! Let me know what you think!

EGG DROP SOUP (makes about 6 small bowls)

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups of chicken broth

• 2 cups of water (1 hot, mixed with cornstarch)

• 1 tbsp cornstarch or flour

• 1 chunk of ginger, peeled

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 4 eggs

• 1 cup of canned kernal corn (optional)

• 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, destemmed and thinly sliced (optional) 

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 cup of chopped scallions

• optional toppings: fresh ground black pepper, chili oil, or fried garlic

Directions:

Bring chicken stock with 1 cup of water to a simmer with ginger. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper.  Cook for 30 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of hot water mixed with cornstarch or flour. Add mushrooms and corn. Cook for another 15 min. Pour in beaten eggs and slowly stir in one direction using a fork or chopstick. Allow eggs to cook for a minute or two. Add scallions and serve. You can also top your bowl of soup with fresh ground black pepper, chili oil, or fried garlic.