Special Chunky Chinese Egg Drop Soup

Nowadays, there is so much convenience with regards to almost everything. Specially food. You can prepare so much variation of food even if you are a novice. But sometimes, for the person who is really into nice cuisine, sometimes it is nice to prepare food from scratch. Nothing compares to home prepared food. There is that certain element that cannot be found in most ready to cook food preparation. Take for example the simple egg drop soup. Various recipes are available in restaurants that are also easily recreated in homes from instant food products. However, their taste will not be at par with the original home cooked variants. Even the ones in restaurant will not match home cooked meals. Especially if the cook at home is skilled that is. Anyway, I just thought of creating this recipe because I crave Chinese inspired soup but not the instant version. I think it came out really nice. I really enjoyed having this soup on a rainy day like today.

Ingredients:

¼ cup Large prawns, cut into cubes.

¼ kg Chicken breast fillet, thinly sliced.

4 pcs. Dried scallop, diced finely

3 pcs. Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and diced finely, save soaking liquid.

5 pcs. Garlic, minced

1 pc. Onion, medium, thinly sliced

¼ tsp. Black pepper powder

1 tbsp. Sugar

½ cup Mung bean noodles (cut into 1 inch length)

1 1/4 tsp. Iodized salt

3 tbsp. Mirin wine

½ cup Snow peas

5 cups Water

1 ½ tbsp. Cornstarch

½ cup Water (for suspending the starch)

2 pcs. Eggs (beaten)

1 tsp. Sesame oil

3 tbsp. Safflower oil (for sautéing)

Cooking Instruction:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the garlic and onion until the garlic is golden brown and the onion starts to caramelize. Add the scallop and prawns. Cook until prawn turns bright red. Add the chicken and the mirin wine. Mix and cook for about two minutes. Add the black pepper, sugar and the mushroom including the excess liquid used for soaking the same. Stir and cook for another two minutes. Add the water and heat until it boils. Lower flame to a gentle simmer and cover. Cook for about 15-20 minutes to fuse the flavours.

In a bowl, place the cornstarch and water. Mix well until it is evenly suspended and free from lumps. Add the sesame oil and mix well. Pour on the cooking mixture and stir the soup well. Increase the flame to start boiling. Pour the beaten eggs and stir immediately. Add the snow peas and cover. Extinguish flame and stand for about 5 minutes. Serve hot. Enjoy with steamed buns...