Thai Egg Drop Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of chicken broth
• ½ teaspoon soy sauce
• ½ minced carrot
• 1 tablespoon minded shallot
• 1 grated garlic clove (or ¼ tsp ground)
• 1 grated piece of ginger (or ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 egg beaten with a teaspoon of water
• ½ of a Thai chili pepper sliced or minced
• 2 green onions (scallion) sliced on the diagonal
• 1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch
• Water – enough to dissolve cornstarch
• Drizzle of Toasted Sesame Oil

Directions:

In a soup pot, begin with a sauté of minced carrot and shallot. You only need to cook for a minute or so, just enough to bring out the sugars. Add the ginger and garlic using a grater or micro-planer and sauté for another minute or so (who watches the clock?). Pour in the chicken stock and soy sauce, brining it to a slow boil, season with white pepper.

While waiting for the soup to boil, combine the cornstarch with enough water to dissolve it, so that it’s a liquid and not a paste, and then set aside.  Next beat your egg and water thoroughly.  

Here comes the tricky part. Turn off the heat, (re-beat the eggs) then stir your soup enough so that it circulates under its own momentum (not too fast). Next, slowly stream the beaten egg through a fork (I use a small hand colander with holes, not a screen) about eight inches above the soup. “Note: for you guys out there… the REAL eight inches!”  When the soup starts to slow down, stir the soup again, and follow with streaming in more egg. Continue this process until all the egg is in the pot. This method ensures that the egg streams in at the required speed. The width between the fork tines (or colander) is about the right width for producing strands that are silky and not rubbery and clumpy.

Add Thai peppers and scallions and cook for a minute or two more. Drizzle in a little sesame oil for flavor.

Serves: 2 or just me.

Viola! javilabbe’s version of, “Thai Egg Drop Soup”