Tomato and Egg Drop Soup Japanese Way

My Tomato and Egg Drop Soup is based on Chinese Tomato and Egg Drop Soup, except that I used dashi stock for the soup base. It has a clean and refreshing taste, with a gentle flavouring. The sourness from the tomato goes so well with egg in the simple broth.

The Chinese version of the Tomato and Egg Drop Soup uses lightly flavoured soup stock such as chicken broth or vegetable broth. Sometimes, it uses water instead of soup stock with flavouring ingredients. Garlic is also added to the broth in some recipes.

My version of Tomato and Egg Drop Soup uses just salt, mirin, and light soy sauce to add flavours to the dashi stock. You can use konbu dashi to make it a vegetarian soup.

Sorry about posting another egg dish so soon after Plain Chawanmushi with Starchy Clear Sauce. But this is also a super quick and easy recipe requiring minimal ingredients.

What’s in my Tomato and Egg Drop Soup Japanese Way

The key ingredients are only a tomato and an egg.

• A tomato cut into 8 wedges, then halve each wedge (photo below)
• An egg
• Oil.

It is best to use a ripe tomato, but not an overripe one. For 2 servings a medium-size tomato of about 150-180g/5.3-6.3oz is just right.

Broth

• Dashi stock
• Salt
• Mirin
• Light soy sauce (or normal soy sauce)
• Corn flour/cornstarch diluted in water.

Depending on the size of your tomato and your palate, the amount of salt to be added to the broth can be adjusted. I used ⅜ teaspoon of salt with 180g/6.3oz of tomato.

Garnish (optional)

• Finely chopped parsley, green onion, or mitsuba.

I scattered chopped parsley over to add some colour to the soup. If mitsuba was in season, I would have used it since it has a milder flavour.

How to Make Tomato and Egg Drop Soup Japanese Way

You will be surprised to see how easy it is to make my Tomato and Egg Drop Soup. Watch the video.

1. Beat egg in a small bowl/jar.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan and cook the tomato pieces.
3. Add dashi stock and the rest of the Broth ingredients, excluding corn flour.
4. Cook the tomatoes until they soften.
5. Add corn flour to thicken the broth.
6. Pour the beaten egg gently into the broth, making a stream of ribbons.
7. Serve hot with parsley as garnish.

Tomato and Egg Drop Soup Japanese Way is a variation of Kaikitama-jiru. After cooking tomatoes, the method of adding the egg is identical to the method I used in Kaikitama-jiru.

Just adding tomato pieces makes such a difference in flavour, texture, and appearance. It became a totally different soup from Kakitama-jiru. The cooking time of only 10 minutes from beginning to end is also attractive.

Yumiko

Watch How To Make It

5 from 1 vote

Print

Tomato and Egg Drop Soup Japanese Way

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Total Time

10 mins

 

Tomato and Egg Drop Soup Japanese Way is based on Chinese Tomato and Egg Drop Soup, except that I used dashi stock for the soup base. It has a clean and refreshing taste, with a gentle flavouring. The sourness from the tomato goes so well with the egg.

Use konbu dashi to make this soup vegetarian.

Watch the video.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Soup

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: Egg Drop Soup, egg recipe, tomato soup recipe

Serves: 2

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 1 tomato (medium size of about 150-180g/5.3-6.3oz)
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp oil

Broth

• 400ml/0.84pt dashi stock (note 1)
• ⅜ tsp salt (note 2)
• 1 tsp mirin
• 1 tsp light soy sauce (or normal soy sauce)
• ½ tbsp corn flour/cornstarch diluted in 1 tbsp water

Garnish (optional)

• Finely chopped parsley (note 3)

Instructions

1. Beat the egg in a small bowl or a jar.

2. Cut the tomato into 8 wedges, then halve each wedge perpendicular to the first cut.

3. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium high heat.

4. Put the tomatoes into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes until the surface of the tomato pieces starts softening. While cooking, turn the tomato pieces over to cook different sides of the tomato pieces.

5. Add the dashi stock, then the rest of the Broth ingredients, excluding corn flour, to the pan.

6. When the broth starts boiling, remove the bubbly scum if it surfaces. Reduce the heat to gently simmer.

7. Stir the corn flour with water well so that the corn flour is diluted in the water, then dribble the corn flour into the pan, a small amount at a time, and mix the broth quickly (note 4).

8. When the broth thickens, bring the heat up slightly so that the broth is gently boiling.
9. Using chopsticks or a fork, pour the beaten egg along the chopsticks/fork, drawing a circle starting from the centre of the pot towards the outer edge (note 5).
10. Gently stir the egg ribbons with the chopsticks/fork where the egg is still uncooked, then turn the heat off.

11. Transfer the soup to serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.

Recipe Notes

1. I made dashi stock from scratch per my recipe Home Style Japanese Dashi Stock. But you can use granular dashi powder added to 400ml/0.84pt of water. Be aware that granular dashi powder contains salt and you may want to adjust the amount of salt to add to the broth.

2. ⅜ teaspoon is a bit hard to measure. I measured it using a ¼ tsp measuring spoon, by scooping the ¼ tsp of salt, then added a half-filled ¼ teaspoon of salt.

The amount of salt required depends on the size of tomatoes as well as your palate. My tomato was 180g/6.3oz and I found that ⅜ teaspoon of salt was just right.

3. If I had mitsuba, I would have used it because it has a milder flavour than parsley, but it is out of season now. You can also use finely chopped green onions.

4. This will prevent the corn flour from becoming lumpy in the broth.

5. If you have a ladle with small holes, you could pour the egg through it instead of using chopsticks/fork.

6. Nutrition per serving.

serving: 318g calories: 136kcal fat: 8.9g (11%) saturated fat: 1.5g (8%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 1.7g monounsaturated fat: 4.8g cholesterol: 95mg (32%) sodium: 971mg (42%) carbohydrates: 5.9g (2%) dietary fibre: 1.1g (4%) sugar: 3.2g protein: 8.6g vitamin D: 1mcg (3%) calcium: 31mg (2%) iron: 0.8mg (5%) potassium: 521mg (11%)