Chinese-Styled Cream of Corn Egg Drop Soup
Chinese-Styled Cream of Corn Egg Drop Soup
Tea Name:
Chinese-Styled Cream of Corn and Egg Drop Soup
Chinese Name:
玉米湯 (yù mǐ tāng)
Nature: Warm
Taste: Sweet, Salty
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There are as many versions of a Chinese-styled corn and egg drop soup as there are likely ABC soups! This is a staple in lots of Cantonese cuisines, with a thinner consistency over an American Chinese version (which uses corn starch as a thickener).
It is also known as the “egg flower soup”, which I love! Because the idea is that the egg drop flowers into the soup as you pour it in, giving it a beautiful non-uniform design inside the soup!
This is actually one of my dad’s favourites and you can find the very basic version of the soup, the Corn and Egg Drop Basic Soup here. I remember having this very often as a kid, especially as it’s super easy to make, the ingredients are readily available, and it is delicious served on rice!! It’s almost like a sauce, but not quite!
With this version, I’ve gone a bit Chinese with some of the herbal additives just because I wanted a slightly warmer take on it and definitely a heartier version with the potatoes because I know my kids love potatoes! Honestly, I would recommend you tweak, build, or create whatever inspires you! This is the beauty of cooking (versus baking… but we can save that debate for another day!).
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 35 mins
Serves: 8 bowls of soup
- 2 canned of cream of corn (any brand)
- 1 fresh whole onion, diced
- 3 fresh potatoes, cubed
- 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, diced
- 3 fresh corn on the cob, shucking the kernels
- 2 fresh eggs
- 2 teaspoons of dried red goji berries
- 10 dried red dates
- 2 L of water (or 1 L chicken broth + 1 L of water)
- green onions to garnish
- sesame oil to garnish
- salt and pepper
- You can prepare all your ingredients first, primarily the onions, garlic, potatoes, and fresh corn on the cob
- Chop your onions quite finely into cubes
- Dice up your garlic
- Remove the ears from the corn and shuck the corn, taking only the kernels. I tend to snap the corn in half first so that it stands on the flat side so I can just shuck it down (see video)
- Wash, peel, and cube your potatoes into bite-sized pieces
- In your soup pot, with a bit of oil and on low heat, fry the onions on low heat to cook and slightly caramelize
- Once the onions are soft, throw in the diced garlic to fry for 5 minutes on low heat
- Add in all the shucked corn kernels and stir for 5 minutes
- Turn up the heat to high now and add 2L water (or chicken broth)
- Allow this to come to a boil
- Once it boils, add in your Chinese herbs and the cubed potatoes
- Add in the canned cream of corn at this point
- Cover the soup
- Be sure to stir this soup once in awhile to prevent any of the ingredients from sticking to the bottom
- Once that boils again, you can reduce the boil to a low heat, keeping it covered for 10 minutes to allow the potatoes to fully soften
- In a bowl, crack your eggs and scramble
- Gently stir the soup in circles as you drizzle the egg drop into the soup, allow the eggs to cook as it enters the soup and not in clumps
- Serve, garnish, and enjoy!
Tips:
- This is designed as a quick boil soup which means that the ingredients are cut up quite small (so they cook quicker)
- For a true warm soup, consider adding sliced ginger, sliced tangerine peels, and even sesame oil (which is delicious and fragrant!)
- I tend not to use a corn starch thickener here, but this really quite personal. If you do use corn starch, be sure to dissolve the corn starch in cold water first and gently pour into the soup and stir
- You can use frozen corn as well (although it doesn’t taste as yummy, but still works!)
- Be sure to continuously stir as this soup cooks as to avoid any ingredients sticking to the bottom and burning
- SERVE WITH RICE!! SO YUMMY!
