This is a Japanese version of Egg Drop Soup called Kakitama-jiru. Kakitama-jiru broth is based on dashi stock, but Chinese egg drop soup is made with chicken stock. Fluffy eggs in the soup look almost like ribbons. It also reheats well.
Cook Time does not include the time to make dashi stock.
- 400ml / 0.8pt dashi stock (note 1)
- 1 tsp light soy sauce (note 2)
- ⅓ tsp salt
- 3 tsp cornflour/corn-starch diluted in 3 tsp water (note 3)
- 1 egg , beaten
- A handful of snow pea shoots cut to 2.5cm/1” pieces (note 4)
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Bring dashi stock to a boil and add soy sauce and salt.
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When salt is dissolved, add the cornflour to the broth slowly while mixing the broth with a ladle. This prevents cornflour lumps in the broth.
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When the broth thickens, reduce the heat to medium so that the broth is gently boiling.
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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).
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Gently stir the egg ribbons with the ladle, then turn the heat off.
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Add the snow pea shoots to the soup and serve while hot (note 6).
1. I strongly recommend home-made dashi stock if you have time and access to dried bonito flakes. The broth is seasoned very lightly and you are meant to enjoy the great flavour of dashi.
If you need to use an instant dashi pack or granular dashi powder to make dashi stock, reduce the salt to ¼ tsp or less depending on the type of dashi pack. The granular dashi powder contains the most salt. Taste and adjust when seasoning the broth.
2. You can substitute light soy sauce with normal soy sauce. The colour of the broth becomes marginally darker if normal soy sauce is used. You may also need to adjust the amount of salt as normal soy sauce is slightly less salty than light soy sauce.
Dark soy sauce is not suited for this recipe.
3. The amount of cornflour/corn-starch can be anywhere between 2 to 4 teaspoons depending on how thin/thick broth you want.
4. I picked only the tip of the snow pea leaves to avoid thick stems.
The most commonly used garnish in Japan is mitsuba - a wild Japanese parsley or the Japanese version of Cryptotaenia. You can also use mizuna, baby spinach or finely chopped shallots/scallions.
This is for a garnish and you don’t have to have it, although the green makes the soup look prettier.
5. If you have a ladle with small holes, you could pour the egg through it instead of using chopsticks/fork.
6. When transferring the soup from the pot to a serving bowl, gently scoop the soup and try not to break eggs into smaller pieces.
7. The serving size is the size of a typical Japanese soup bowl. If you would like the soup to be served like a Western-style soup in a larger soup bowl, you will need to double the quantity.