Friday, May 22, 2009

Egg drop soup

I have no idea of why, but I got one of those sudden urges for egg drop soup! I looked up a few recipes for it to be sure I remembered what was in it, and discovered that there are many variations. Now if that isn't an open door to experiment, I don't know what is and I've never been one to shut the door on something like that, so...

First, I put in a couple of tablespoons of rice, three cups of water and a couple of chicken bouillon cubes. While that was cooking, I went to the back yard and got a fistful of dandelion leaves, lambsquarter, salsify leaves and a few stalks of chives. Once the rice was cooked, the greens went into the soup and cooked briefly while I beat an egg, the dropped it a little at time into the boiling water.

And that's all there was to it. With a slice of homemade bread it made a surprisingly filling meal. I haven't calculated the exact cost, but with the price of eggs now, it was very cheap - potentially less than a dime a serving.

I know not everyone can step outside their back door and pick wild greens (or even domesticated greens), but you can use whatever you happen to have. Spinach, radish tops, mustard or turnip greens or even cabbage will do.

It may not be genuine Chinese egg drop soup, but it's a very good Americanized substitute!

2 comments:

  1. I sounds tasty! I have made chicken egg drop soup for years, but thickened it with cornstarch before carefully pouring in the egg. Yummm.

    Earlier this spring, my son decided to collect dandelion leaves. We had them for lunch; we thought they were very good!

    Gigi

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  2. I've thickened it, too, but didn't this time and it was still filling. I love dandelion greens - glad you enjoyed them, too!

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