A few days ago I shared a recipe from my Italian-Austrian friend, Annalisa and today I’d like to share a recipe from a Chinese friend, Qian.
I met Qian on a bus in Finland. She coincidently asked me directions to the exact street I was heading to and then as I was walking her there we discovered that her home town (Qingdao) was the same city my Dad had worked in a few years earlier. She was astonished, I was charmed and the friendship was sealed.
From then on we met up every few weeks to chat over coffee or giggle over beers or to cook for one another. Whenever it was Qian’s turn to be the hostess we always started the meal with some variation of egg drop soup. And I loved it!
The name of the soup is a slight misnomer, I think. Egg Drop suggests that one should just plop the egg into the soup when, in fact, that would result in lumpy, congealed egg bleugh. The secret to this velvety, satisfying soup is a steady hand and a slow stream. Get that right and you’ll have silky egg ribbons bathed in a deliciously fragrant bowl of broth. Yum.
Egg Drop Soup with Tomato and Coriander
(serves one as a meal or four as a delicate starter)
500ml chinese stock or normal stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 tspn vegetable oil
3 sping onions, white and greens seperated and chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 stalks of coriander, stalks chopped and leaves reserved
1 tblspn soy sauce
2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and cut into quarters
1 egg, beaten in a jug
- Heat the oil over a medium-high heat and add the spring onion whites. garlic and coriander stalks. Fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the stock and soy sauce to the pan and bring to the boil.
- Add the tomatoes and reduce the heat. Simmer for 4 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and very slowly add the egg in a constant stream stirring in one direction with a fork. The egg will turn into ribbons.
- Serve in a bowl topped with the spring onion greens and coriander.
Quite healing, I imagine too.
Just lovely, Wendy (and Qian).
So that’s what an egg drop soup is. How wonderful Wendy. Light, easy and so very tasty I would think.
I love those stories about meeting friends – and this sort of recipe looks so lovely that it makes me regret not liking eggs (I have tried – really!)
I did try another recipe for egg drop soup once and it was … lol… thrown in the garbage! just might have recovered enough to give it another shot – thanks for the recipe!
Lucy – Healing sounds just right. 🙂
Kathryn – It is!
Johanna – You’ve told me that so many times but I’m always surprised. 🙂
Arundathi – Hope this one works for you!
Those little eggy ribbons are so pretty! I’ve never been convinced about egg in soups but I do think this looks very good. I might just give it a try!
Wow! I’ve never seen this before, I love the idea of those little egg ribbons and it looks so pretty too!
That is so cool Wendy! I wondered what the ribbons were when I saw the photo. I too assumed that the egg was dopped in whole and poached in the soup.
Sounds lovely and simple – and how nice that you think of your friend when you make it!
Antonia – Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Helen – The egg ribbons are wonderful – really silky and smooth.
Holler – Sensible assumption but no. It’s a lovely soup.
Lysy – It is!🙂
Well Wendy I followed your instructions. I made my stock yesterday and used it in this soup today.
And it’s a marvel.
Easy, gloriously tasty. And did I mention easy?
Tuesday nights are difficult for us too. It’s invariably a long, long day – so quick and easy is what we’re after. I think we’ll be having this soup a lot.
Hi there – I love egg drop soup, and I just tried your friend’s recipe – it’s very good – thanks so much for sharing!