Egg Drop Noodle Soup

[zhemao]

I tried making a noodle soup dish that replicates the flavor of the egg drop soup you get in Chinese restaurants. I think I succeeded, but the dish was delicious in any case. The preparation for this dish will involve soaking a lot of things. If you have a lot of containers, you can soak them all simultaneously to save time.

Ingredients:

• Kombu (dried kelp)


• Dried shrimp


• Tofu


• Carrots


• Scallions


• Baby bok choy


• Rice noodles


• Salt


• Sugar


• White pepper


• Egg

Directions:

1. Put a sheet of kombu and a few dried shrimp in the pot and cover with cold water. Soak for 30 minutes.


2. Soak the rice noodles in hot water for 45 min - 1 hour. If you start soaking at the same time as everything else, it will be just right once you are ready to cook it.


3. Wash the bok choy, let it soak in cold water for 30 min. Drain and rinse one last time before you cook it.


4. Slice a quarter block of tofu into small cubes.


5. Peel a carrot and chop half of it into bite-sized chunks. Save the other half for another time.


6. Chop a scallion root into bite-sized slices


7. After the kombu and shrimp are done soaking, toss the carrots into the pot and bring the pot up to boil on high heat.


8. Once the water starts boiling, remove the kombu and turn the heat to low.


9. Add a tablespoon of salt and half a tablespoon of sugar.


10. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. At this point, the carrots should be soft but still a bit crunchy.


11. Add the tofu, scallions, and bok choy.


12. Simmer for 1-2 minutes until the bok choy is completely cooked.


13. Add more salt and sugar to taste.


14. Remove all the solid ingredients from the soup and set aside.


15. Turn the heat back up to high. Once it's boiling vigorously, drain the noodles and add them to the pot.


16. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 1-2 minutes until the noodles are cooked through. They should be soft but still chewy.


17. Remove the noodles from the pot and set aside.


18. Crack an egg into a bowl and beat it gently to break up the yolk. Don't beat it too well or you won't get a good texture.


19. Mix in a pinch of salt and white pepper.


20. Bring the broth up to boil again on medium high heat, then slowly pour in the egg.


21. Stir gently to break up the pieces of egg.


22. Once the egg has set (should happen pretty quickly), turn off the heat.


23. Now to assemble everything. Place the noodles in a bowl, cover with the solid ingredients, then pour the broth and eggs over them.

And there you have it. The combination of kombu and dried shrimp gives it that great umami flavor without needing any MSG. If you are making this using a previously used piece of kombu, you don't need to soak it with the shrimp beforehand. Instead, leave it in the pot throughout the cooking of the solid ingredients. If you want some extra garnish for the noodle soup, you can add chopped scallion leaves, aonori (dried seaweed flakes), bonito flakes, xuecai (pickled mustard greens), or zacai (pickled cabbage).

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