This is such a delicate soup and so pretty.
I’ve told you before how food memories stick in my head and I can recall them years later even decades later. Well, that is the case for this recipe
Back when the kids were all still at home we went skiing in Park City, Utah one year. I don’t know about you but when we have gone skiing everyone is so exhausted when they get off the slopes no one wants to go any place for dinner. After falling my first time out back in the late 80’s and I ended up having to have knee surgery, I gave up on the sport. So I was the bring-along chef on all of our ski trips. I would even pack stuff to make homemade cookies and snow cream for everyone to enjoy. But one night in Park City we decided to go out for Chinese food and we went to this little restaurant and the soup I ordered was called Egg Flower Soup. (Amazing, I just Googled it and the restaurant Park City Chinese and Thai is still in business and serves Egg Flower Soup.)
Over the years I’ve change the recipe I came up with because their soup only had the corn. I added some fresh spinach and carrot threads for color and some finely chopped chicken for added flavor but the thing that makes this soup so cute (if you can possibly call a soup cute) is the sliced baby corn and when they float in the soup they looked like a field of tiny flowers. (I have left out the chicken in this recipe because I like it plain and simple and I think the chicken muddles it up a little too much.)
I remember the first time I made it I used a package of egg drop soup mix and I didn’t want to waste a whole can of baby corn because I only needed a few spears so I bought it from the salad bar picking up only what I needed you could probably also do that with picking up at few chunks of chicken a few leaves of spinach and your baby corn.
After looking around on the internet for a from scratch recipe I ended up find gimmesomeoven.com’s recipe. Egg drop soup has to look bright, fresh and beautiful in my opinion and Gimmes’ recipe fit the bill and was ready for my additions. Hope she will try my version.
I made this for my bunco group and served in my tiny espresso cups with some fried won ton strips to garnish each cup. It’s cold again in Texas so it was time to make some soup. I love this soup and love the “flowers” in the soup but I am not a fan of baby corn so if you aren’t either I have a few pictures below showing you how to make “flowers” from carrots and it adds a little more color to the soup than the yellow corn.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: If you are looking for a new soup to try some cold winter night, why not try my Creamy Chicken Poblano Pepper Soup. It will hit the spot.
Cut the wonton skins into small thin strips.
Fry in oil until crisp and drain on paper towels.
Drain and rinse the can of baby corn and slice into thin slices. Set aside until ready to use in the soup.
Make a chiffonade of the spinach leaves (stack and roll up) and cut into thin strips.
Mix the cornstarch and the broth together until it has dissolved then add in the ginger and garlic.
Beat the eggs and egg whites with a whisk until totally beaten and mixed.
Bring the broth to a rolling bowl then turn off the heat and pour in the egg mixture. I put a fork over the back of the measuring cup and let the egg run through the fork tines.
Add the carrot threads, spinach and baby corn slices. Salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle into bowls, top with some green onions and wonton strips.
So, if you want to make carrot flowers instead of the baby corn. Here’s how I made these with a mistake I made in the NOTES section.
Using a “channel” knife or tool, cut about 5 strips down the side of each carrot. This is a garnishing, testing type tool.
This is what the carrot will look like after making your cuts.
This is what the little “carrot” flowers will look like when you are through slicing about 1/8-1/16″ slices. Blanch these in water for 5-6 minutes.
- 2 c. spinach leaves
- 5-6+ ears of canned baby corn, sliced thinly into little flowers (see note)
- 4 c. good quality chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
- thinly sliced green onion for garnish
- salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
- black (or white) pepper to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)
- Slice the baby corn into thin slices. They will look like tiny flowers.
- Stack several stemmed spinach leaves and roll up in a chiffonade and slice into thin strips. Set aside.
- Whisk together chicken stock (chilled or room-temperature), cornstarch, ginger and garlic powder in a medium saucepan until combined and no lumps remain. Heat over high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and egg whites in a small measuring cup or bowl. (I find the measuring cup easier for pouring.)
- Once the broth reaches a boil, remove from heat. Then use a fork or whisk to stir the broth in a circular motion, while slowly pour the whisked eggs into the soup to create egg ribbons. Stir in the sesame oil, green onions and corn (optional) until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste, also adding a dash or two of more sesame oil if you'd like more of that flavor.
- Serve immediately, topped with additional green onions for garnish.
- The French term chiffonade means "made of rags." In cooking, chiffonade is a technique for slicing herbs and leafy vegetables into long, thin strips. This method is useful for cooking tougher greens like kale and chard, which can be hard to chew when left in bigger pieces. It's also a nice way to slice up herbs like mint or basil to scatter over a dish or add to a salad.
- To chiffonade something, stack and roll a small pile of leaves and then slice (or snip) them into thin ribbons.
- NOTES ON CARROT FLOWER-- my big mistake was putting them in a bowl with a little water and nuking them. they almost totally dried up by the time I was going to pop them in the soup. Blanching will be a lot better method.
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