Egg Drop Soup

How we make it. 

4 cups chicken broth
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Scallions, sliced
Black pepper, to taste

Heat chicken broth to simmering over medium high heat in a medium pot. In another small bowl, add 1/2 cup of warmed broth to cornstarch and stir together until you have a slurry, a thin liquid mixture with no lumps. Add this mixture into the pot and stir through the broth. Add salt and sesame oil to soup pot. In a small bowl lightly whisk eggs until combined. While stirring the broth, pour eggs into the soup in a light stream. They will cook into little egg strands when they hit the hot broth. Serve warm with scallions and a crack of black pepper.

Why we make it. 

We have had a crazy week around here. My sister moved home right before Christmas. We lost a beloved grandmother. My son turned 10. We celebrated Christmas itself. Birthday pies, Advent wreaths, moving boxes everywhere. A funeral, a house filled with cousins and an open bar. More tears than I can count. More joy than I can remember. This week was life at its most exhausting and breathtaking, leaving us all heavy hearted, fat lidded, full bottomed and on the precipice of a cold. And to a cold I say, egg drop soup. Egg rolls on Christmas Eve. Lo mein for birthdays. Egg drop soup when sick or sour. For me comfort has always been Chinese. Unable to find a good egg drop soup anywhere around this town since Emperor of China closed, I started making it myself. I present to you a new remedy for your winter sniffles. An elixir for your hurt feelings. A friend for your quiet Saturday nights. A first course for New Year’s Eve at home. This ten minute soup is brothy consolation sprinkled with scallions, as hard to mess up as it is easy to enjoy. Give it a swirl. I bet you’ll feel better. That’s why we make it.