“I WANT EGG SOUP! I WANT EGG SOUP! I WANT EGG SOUP!!!”
Now have someone repeat that every few minutes for a week and you’ll have an idea of what it’s been like living with Kai since last Sunday. I was supposed to make egg flower soup for dinner last week, but our plans changed and it didn’t happen. He has been demanding egg flower soup every day since. Today it finally happened for him. You should have seen him hovering over me in the kitchen as I put this together, talk about a leech!
We used a packet mix to make this soup a couple times but having learned how easy it is to make from scratch we realize this was silly and are a little embarrassed about having done that. During Moon Festival we actually made this version three times in one week.
Having experimented with a number of different recipes from various websites, we have come up with a hybrid of these that we think comes very close to what we expect from this soup when we order it in a Chinese restaurant. I believe it is the white pepper and fresh ginger that give the soup the right taste.
Note: getting the eggs to form the right consistency is a bit of a trick. My best results have been to make sure that I don’t beat them too much. You don’t want any bubbles to form when you do this. Also add the eggs to the soup before you put the cornstarch mix in at the end to thicken it.
And if you are having Kai over make sure to double the batch.
Hui-Hui’s Egg Flower Soup
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth or stock
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 -2 green onions, minced
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
A few drops of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (1/8 teaspoon ground ginger will work)
1 clove minced garlic
3-4 tablespoons cornstarch (more or less depending on how thick you like it)
optional: peas, tofu, chopped tomato, corn (NOTE: while Tina and I really like extra stuff in our soup, adding any of these ingredients means it is no longer “Hui-Hui’s Egg Flower Soup” and isn’t endorsed by Kai)
Preparation:
mix 1/2 cup broth with the cornstarch for thickener
in a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs so that no bubbles form.
Bring the remaining chicken broth to a boil. Add the white pepper, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sesame oil and most of the green onion. Cook for about another minute.
While stirring the broth rapidly in one direction, very slowly pour the beaten egg in a steady stream (pouring it through the tines of a fork from several inches above the pot is a good way to keep the stream slow and steady). stir rapidly for at least 1 minute.
Stir in the cornstarch/chicken broth mixture and remove the soup from the heat.
Garnish with the remaining green onion and serve.
