I felt like having an Asian style soup and remembered that my host mother in Japan would occasionally make egg drop soup. I had never felt like trying the stuff in Chinese restaurants because it looked too unnaturally yellow and I was always a little skeeved out by all the wispy bits, and who knows how long it had been sitting there. My host mom's soup had wakame seaweed and green onions in it, and the colors looked normal. It was delicious. Since living in her home I had tried to make it several times and it didn't turn out that well -- the texture of the eggs can be difficult to get right. I know you can buy just-add-water packets of egg soup at the Asian grocery store, but that's not going to have the correct egg texture either. Fast forward to now, where I was feeling like trying again, and I got it right!
- Green onion/scallion, wakame, and shiitake mushrooms are common additions but feel free to add others or subtract to your liking.
- I used powdered dried ginger instead of fresh (about 1/4 tsp).
- The recipe calls for chicken broth but you can use dashi broth instead for a more Japanese twist, or a mild tasting vegetable broth if you want to make it vegetarian.
- I served it with rice.
- The directions for cooking the eggs were really helpful in getting the correct texture. You want the soup to BARELY be moving. Stir it and then wait for the circular motion to slow down a bit before you pour the eggs in.
