A soup that illustrates what I love about Chinese cooking. It’s not about using the most expensive ingredients but about combining readily available produce in small amounts to cook a superb dish.
In this recipe, Chinese spinach is combined with shrimps and mushrooms. Hence, the logical choice for the broth is seafood-based. You may use small pieces of chicken or pork in place of the shrimps, and choose the appropriate broth.
Note that water (swamp) spinach and Chinese spinach (amaranth) are two different vegetables. They can be used interchangeably, they taste somewhat similar, but Chinese spinach is so much more flavorful. For the best Chinese spinach egg drop soup, do not substitute water spinach.
The shrimps used in this Chinese spinach egg drop soup were bought shelled and deveined. If using shrimps that have yet to be shelled and deveined, you will need about 400 grams.
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch Chinese spinach you should have six to eight cups after slicing thinly
- 6 cups fish broth
- 3 tablespoons tapioca starch or corn starch
- 200 grams shrimps shelled and deveined
- 6 to 8 fresh shiitake (caps only) sliced or cut into quarters or eighths
- fish sauce
- pepper
- 3 large eggs beaten
Instructions
- Rinse the Chinese spinach well then shake off excess water.
- Cut off and discard the root ends of the Chinese spinach.
- Thinly slice the Chinese spinach stalks and leaves.
- Stir the tapioca starch into the fish broth and heat in a pot. Stir occasionally until just beginning to simmer. By this time, the broth should have thickened and the cloudiness should have disappeared.
- Drop in the thinly sliced Chinese spinach and press lightly into the broth. Allow to boil gently, stirring often, for about five minutes.
- Stir in the shrimps and mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, for another five minutes.
- Taste the broth, and add fish sauce and pepper, as needed.
- Turn off the heat, drizzle the beaten eggs over the surface and stir.
- Serve the Chinese spinach egg drop soup immediately.
