(also known as Egg Drop Soup)
This is called Egg Flower Soup because of the way the egg "blossoms" when you slowly pour it into the boiling water. It's a truly beautiful soup. The name given to it by American-Chinese restaurants "egg drop soup" is kind of a misnomer because the egg isn't dropped into the soup, but rather poured, slowly and carefully to create the "flowers."
You need:
6 cups of chicken broth*
1 tablespoon wine (rice wine, if you've got it, but any white wine works well.)
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons cold water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon salt (unless the broth already contains salt)
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
In a soup pot, bring the broth and wine to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. (Note: At this point, I sometimes add a handfull of julienned carrots, green onions, or even snow peas and cook for 30 - 40 seconds.)
Add the cornstarch disolved in water and cook until the soup thickens a bit. Turn off the heat.
Slowly pour in the egg and stir lightly with a chopstick in a circular motion to make the egg turn into long threads. Stir in the sesame oil, salt, and white pepper.
Serve as-is or with fried noodles.
* Note -- Chicken broth is a cinch to make. Why buy the stuff at the store with all the salt and preservatives made in a factory somewhere when you can make your own and have some control of the contents? Any time I serve chicken with bones in it, I save the bones, skin, and any leftovers to make broth. I keep a gallon-sized bag in the freezer, to which I add scraps until the bag is full. Once it's full, I just add enough water to fill the pot, bring it to a boil, and then simmer until the water has reduced by 1/4. I then store it in a jar in the fridge for up to 3 days, and use it to make soup. I can make broth while I'm using my kitchen to make dinner so it's really not inconvenient, and it tastes so much better!
