I love Asian soups. They tend to be very light, both in calories and in texture, yet are so comforting in the tummy. This is my take on the traditional egg drop soup. It's a very fast dish to make, taking maybe 25 minutes to whip up. You can serve it as a side dish, but I think it's a great as a light lunch or dinner on a cold day.
Ingredients:
1 quart chicken stock or broth. More on that in a minute.
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables. I love frozen veggies for cooking purposes. They're so much cheaper than fresh, yet the taste is very comparable.
2 dried shiitake mushrooms, unsoaked. I know it's traditional to soak the mushrooms first. But if you add it to the soup dried and let it soak in the broth, it gives the dish a much better flavor.
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 slice ginger
1 egg
1 tblsp. water
1 tblsp. corn starch
salt and pepper, to taste
There's nothing wrong with using canned chicken stock or broth. I go through the stuff like it's going out of style. However, making it homemade is so easy. And, like most cooking, homemade tastes worlds better than anything you buy pre-prepared. But first I'll give the soup recipe, then I'll get into the stock-making technique.
Put your stock/broth, either homemade or canned, in your cooking pot. Reserve about 1/4 cup of it in a small bowl for later. Add your ginger and soy sauce to the pot, and bring it to a simmer. Next, add the dried shiitake mushrooms. You want them cut into small pieces. I just hold them over the pot and cut them into bits with my kitchen shears. Let the stock simmer for about 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are softened.
Next, add the veggies. Bring it back to a simmer for another 5-10 minutes. While the veggies are cooking, beat the egg and water together in a bowl until combines. Your goal is to have a thin egg mixture.
Turn down the heat to a slow simmer. Take your bowl of egg mixture and slowly dribble it into the hot stock. It should solidify into thin strands and bits. Pour a few tablespoons of egg mixture, wait a moment, stir. Repeat. You want to stir enough that the egg doesn't form a big lump, but not so much that the uncooked egg turns into grains.
One that's done, take your reserved bit of stock and add the corn starch. Mix until it's blended well and there are no lumps. I find that clean fingers work best for this. Add the mixture to the pot and stir immediately. Bring it back to a low simmer. The soup should thicken nicely. Remove from the heat, and add your salt and pepper to taste.
Now, the details on chicken stock. The difference between stock and broth? Stock is made with bone, whereas broth is made from meat. Homemade chicken stock is the perfect cheapskate food. Virtually no effort to make, incredibly inexpensive ingredients, massively delicious results. Heck, I think chicken stock was created initially by early cooks who abhorred waste.
Don't waste good chicken meat on making stock. To make good stock, you need bones. Lots of them. Ironically, the more undesirable the piece of chicken, the better it is for making delicious stock. Chicken backbones, necks, the bony rib and back sections you cut off whole chicken breasts and leg quarters, and those chicken wingtips you cut off are all perfect for making stock. I keep a large freezer bag going full of all those parts. Every time I prepare chicken, all the bony scraps go into the bag. When I've accumulated enough, I turn out a batch of stock. This stock-making technique is the basic standard for everything from beef stock to shrimp stock.
Chicken stock necessities:
-Stockpot. No it doesn't have to be one of those special stock-making vessels sold just for the purpose. All you need is a fairly deep pot with a lid.
-A mesh strainer. Doesn't need to be expensive, you can find them at the Dollar Store.
-Bunch of chicken bones. Don't worry about exact amount or weight. You just want enough to fill your stock-making pot 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.
-a bit of salt, to taste
-1 onion, quartered.
- 1 or 2 carrots, and 1 or 2 stalks of celery, cut or broken into chunks. How much you use depends on the amount of stock you're making. If you're using a 6 to 10 quart pot, one of each should be plenty. But if you have a big batch going, add more. You're adding the veggies for flavor only. They'll be removed and discarded at the end. Don't worry about prettiness. This is a great place to use up all those scrawny bits of celery in the center of the bunch, or that last withered carrot in the bag. You can even start a freezer bag full of the ugly celery ends and carrot tips you cut off while cooking, and save them to use for the stock.
Some people also add herbs and such to their stock. I prefer not to do that, since I use my chicken stock in dishes ranging from Asian to Italian. As is such, I try to keep the broth as neutral in flavor as possible.
Put the veggies in the bottom of the pot. Chicken bones go on top with a bit of salt. Add enough water to cover. You want the water level maybe 1/2-inch above the level of the chicken bones. Cover the pot, put it on medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. After the water starts bubbling, turn the heat down to low. You want the liquid at a gentle simmer. Now, you can basically forget about it. Check on it every hour or so, stir it if you want, and add water if you see the water level getting too slow. Initially, a brown scum will rise to the top of the pot. That comes from the cooking bones. It's harmless, but isn't aesthetically pleasing. Just skim it off with your spoon.
I simmer my chicken stock for about 3-4 hours, or until the bones are a bit softened. I learned by accident that is IS possible to overcook chicken stock. I had a batch I left in my crock pot for 10 hours, and the bones fell apart into teeny crumbles of grit. Ruined the entire thing.
When the stock is done, turn off the heat and let it sit for a moment. After that, you can use a spoon to skim all the fat off the surface. Take out the bones and veggies. I use a slotted spoon. If you're really cheap, like me, you can salvage a lot of perfectly good meat from the cooked bones. The soft meat is great for chicken salad or as pizza topping. After all the good-sized chunks are out, pour the stock through the strainer and into another pot or container.
You can store the stock in containers or bags in the freezer. If you're putting it in freezer bags, be sure to put the bags in container of some kind while waiting for them to freeze, just in case they leak. Chicken stock all over the freezer isn't fun. You can take the bags out of the container once they're safely frozen.
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