“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living. For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.” ~ Louis P. De Gouy

Hot, delicious soup is one of the best comfort foods around, and egg-flower soup is one of my favorites!

I used to only be able to enjoy this traditional Chinese soup by placing a take-out order from a local Chinese restaurant, but this is no longer the case!

My loving hubby is often up for adventures in the kitchen, and he recently decided to have a go at creating his own rendition of egg-flower soup—yum!

I was in the kitchen taking notes as he got things prepared, and it turns out this soup is actually fairly easy to make!

Here is what is needed to make 2 large servings (or 3 small ones):

• 3-4 organic, humanely-farmed eggs
• Vegetable broth, approx. 32 oz.
• Miso Paste
• Fresh ginger root ( a small piece will do)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Cornstarch
• Soy Sauce or Tamari
• Tofu (optional)
• Spinach or Bok Choy (optional)
• Green onion
• Cracked black pepper

The veggie broth is the base, so begin by pouring it into a large saucepan or pot, and turn on the heat. Add approx. 1.5 to 2 Tbsp. of miso paste and some cracked black pepper, to taste. Mix in and dilute the miso paste.

Next, slice a small piece of ginger that’s about the size of a quarter and 1/4 inch thick. Then peel a couple of garlic cloves.

If there’s a tea-ball handy, use it for the garlic and ginger, but if not, no worries—just take an extra moment to fish the cloves and ginger out later. The ginger and garlic will simply cook with the broth to infuse it with flavor.

Bring this current concoction to a simmer for a few minutes.

Next, scoop out about half a coffee-cup’s worth of the broth. In this cup, mix in 1.5 Tbsp. of cornstarch. (Adding the cornstarch to this small amount of broth in the cup makes it way easier to mix in and dilute!)

Once the cornstarch is thoroughly mixed in, add the mixture in the cup back into the soup.

Next add tofu, if desired. We used a hunk of tofu approximately the size of a stick of butter. Chop it up into tiny squares and add it to the mix on the stove. Then add 1-2 dashes of soy sauce to taste. (If a couple dashes isn’t enough, more can always be added later!)

Egg-flower soup recipes often call for bok choy, but as this isn’t one of my hubs favorite veggies, we opted to use spinach instead! This way, there is still some greenery in the soup. We used about 2-3 chopped handfuls, as spinach tends to cook way down.

We also love green onion, so we use a bit in the pot of soup, and save some for garnish upon serving. For this batch, we chopped up 6 green onions, added about 1/3 to the mixture on the stove and saved the rest to throw on top of the soup, just before serving.

Keep the soup at a low simmer, and start beating or whisking the eggs in a bowl. Once the eggs are thoroughly whisked, add about a 1/2 Tbsp. into the bowl with the eggs and mix that in as well.

Remove the tea-ball, or fish out the ginger and garlic cloves now. Bring the soup to a high simmer.

It’s time to add the eggs!

We used this big, hole-y cooking spoon—but a fork will do just fine, if that’s what’s available.

Pour the liquid eggs through the fork or special spoon, spreading them all over the surface of the simmering soup.

Voila! The eggs immediately cook upon hitting the hot soup, creating delicious, wispy tendrils.

Sprinkle the remaining onion, as desired, on top of the soup before serving. The onion offers a cool, crunchy contrast which compliments the hot, silky soup.

Enjoy!

**Note: Because of the cooked egg factor, this soup does not hold up well for re-heating or re-serving. That’s is why this recipe aims to yield a small batch of 2-3 servings. The recipe can be increased, as needed, when serving more people.

 

 

 

 

Relephant read:

Spicy & Hearty: Vegetarian Chili Delight.

 

Author: Yoli Ramazzina

Editor: Renee Picard

Photos: Author’s own.