Egg Drop Soup Recipe

What is Egg Drop Soup?

Egg Drop Soup is one of the most common Chinese soup. It is easy to make and very tasty. Almost everyone in China loves Egg Drop Soup. However, most Chinese restaurants in the United States serve this soup without tomatoes. If you like the restaurant-style Egg Drop Soup, you will definitely fall in love with this recipe and even prefer to make it at home (because it tastes much better!!!!). Ketchup, garlic and sesame oil are the three most important ingredients for this recipe.You fry the tomatoes first, add water, and once it’s boiled, drop the egg and stir in a clockwise direction. This Egg Drop Soup recipe is almost the easiest one to follow, and it only takes 5 minutes. This is my favorite recipe besides Moo Goo Gai Pan.

In this post, I will first share a story about egg drop soup, then discuss Egg Drop Soup’s ingredients, how to make Egg Drop Soup, Egg Drop Soup’s nutrition and calories and some of other egg drop ideas. I  hope this will be the most comprehensive post about Egg Drop Soup you can find out there.

A Story Behind Egg Drop Soup

Before I share the Egg Drop Soup recipe, one question comes to my mind. Are simple things good or bad? There is no right or wrong answer, but for me,  the simplest thing carries the most weight in my life. Simplicity can pure our mind and keep us focused. However, in this fast-changing world, everything has become more and more complicated. People tend to forget how important simple minds used to function in our life. Then what? Distraction, infidelity, an desperation come to affect our life even more.

There is a very touching story about Egg Drop Soup I want to share with you in this post. It’s not only about Egg Drop Soup, more importantly, it’s about faith in marriage. The story happened in China. But I believe the similar stories happen everywhere in this world, especially nowadays. It’s about appreciation. It’s a good opportunity to meditate on our own marriage and people’s relationship. Is life going to the right direction we once pictured in our mind? Did we forget the original intention to do certain things that we finally are successful at? Is our life happier now than before? Are people around me happy? …

The story began in the early 1980s. A young couple got married. The young man’s family is very poor. His two older brothers are still single; no women want to marry them. But this young man is good looking and well-educated. The women and her family think and hope he has good prospects. The couple has nothing, except a cottage to live in, which is provided by someone else. The cottage is right next to a pigsty. As we can imagine, life is not easy at all.

Fortunately, this young women is a very good and hard-working wife. She goes to kiln to pick up the bricks every day. Even though she is very thin, her work is better than anyone else. In the rainy days, the stairs get more slippery. It’s always a challenge for her. But she never complains about anything. This young man saw the red marks on her shoulders. He said to himself, “I want to give her a better life.” So he went out of town to do business.

She was pregnant, dealing with everything all by herself. A few years passed by since he first left. Then the young man came back with a lot of money. They can afford a new house and a car.  At first, the young man would always bring her with him to meet business clients. But soon, he started to feel ashamed about her appearances. In front of him was still the women ten years ago, but with more wrinkles on the face and old-fashioned style. All these years, she has devoted all her mind into raising a kid and taking care of the family. She has never bought anything new for herself. Now she has turned from a brilliant young girl to a torn worn house wife.

One day, her daughter came back from school and asked her, “Mom, why don’t you wear some makeup and some new clothes? My teacher in the school Ms. Li is so pretty. I wish you could be like her.”  She was stunned! She looked at herself in the mirror, and she can hardly recognize herself. All these years she has been engaged in physical work and lived a hard life. Her skin is rough and dark. Sometimes he buys some cosmetics and clothes for her, but she is just not that type of women.

A heart-broken moment finally arrived. Her daughter told her one day that Ms. Li is not in the school for 3 days and everyone at school is guessing she has run away with the men. She is shocked, again. He said he went on a business trip, but he lied. She called him. Next, she couldn’t believe what she was told, “yes, I don’t love you anymore! When I come back, let’s divorce.” How brutal is that! How can a man end a marriage just like this? She couldn’t believe what just happened. She gave him everything she has, even though they have nothing, since the first day of their marriage. Now this man has everything, and wants to abandon her. Is this what she deserves? She felt like a loser, a real loser. There is no reason to continue her marriage, and her life. So she went out and bought a bottle of pesticide. She drank it all.

Her daughter found her and took her to the hospital. She was saved. Lying on the hospital bed, she saw him, and said softly,” let’s divorce.” Soon they both signed the divorce agreement. He went home to pack all of his belongings. She asked him to stay for lunch. He hesitated, then put the bag down. He looked at the dining table. She prepared everything he loves. He stayed.

So he sat down. She finally brought out a bowl of Egg Drop Soup. He was stunned. This little bowl has some magic power. It brought him back to the old days when they were still poor but deeply in love with each other. Egg drop soup was his favorite. Every day after he came back from work, no matter how exhausted he was, she would prepare him a bowl of Egg Drop Soup. The eggs were from her own raised chicken. She sprinkled some oil and chopped green onion on the top. She would always give him the egg drop and watched him eat them all, satisfied and happy. They’ve been through all the ups and downs for a long time.

Now life is easier and better. He is not used to have this soup anymore. He spends night after night outside meeting his business clients. However, the sip of this homemade Egg Drop Soup made him wonder where all these old times went. In this moment, he feels so warm and refreshed. This is a very unusual feeling compared to eating restaurant food with someone else. This is the flavor he missed and cherished.

He looked up and saw her wrinkles and grey hair. Life is hard on her. All the responsibilities a man should take are falling on her shoulder. She has not lived a single day of good life with him. Now the situation is better, yet more complicated, people change. He changes, because now he wants this women to disappear in his life. He started to question himself, why I wanted to work so hard? Isn’t it that I want to give her a better life? Now she earns it. How can I betray the faith that supports me to become what I am now? All these years accompany, like this bowl of Egg Drop Soup, is deeply rooted in his heart, untouched but impossible to live without.

Why divorce? Who else can make the same egg drop soup? How stupid to break up this family? Thinking of these, he stood up, ripped the divorce agreement to shreds, and throw into the garbage can.

What I Learned From This Egg Drop Soup Story?

What a story! This world is changing so fast. We often forget our simplest mind and where we are coming from. We allow ourselves to keep being distracted and let our ego self take over our true self. We think we can be happier, richer or more successful once we reach certain goal. Ironically, human nature is such an odd thing– when we achieve the goal we initially set, we forget why we want to pursue it in the beginning.

So let’s try to keep a simple eye. Give more, and expect less. Show appreciation to our wife/husband, our children, our parents, our friends, and anyone who cares about us. If until this point you are still with me, thank you! I know this is a long story, you probably not expect a recipe post this long 🙂 I know. I am a little emotional today, especially after thinking about this story. But now, I am ready to make this egg drop soup for my husband. Hopefully, you want to try it too!

I am going to show you the most traditional Egg Drop Soup recipe and some of its variations–Egg Drop ideas, as a bonus. After checking out these recipes, don’t forget another amazing authentic Chinese food recipe-Moo Goo Gai Pan. Now, let’s make some serious “drops”….:)

Egg Drop Soup’s Ingredients

Ingredients:

Tomatoes: 2, diced

Egg: 2

ketchup: 2 tbs

green onion: 1

starch: 1 tsb

sugar: 1 tsb

salt: 1 tsb

clove garlic: 1, finely chopped

sesame oil: 1 tsb

How To Make Egg Drop Soup?

Steps:

1. Peel tomatoes then diced to small pieces

2. Whisk eggs in a bowl.

3. Cut green onion.

4. Chop garlic or use garlic powder.

5. Mix starch with water (twice the amount of starch) for reserve. 

6. Heat oil for 20 seconds then fry diced green onion.

7. Add diced tomatoes and sugar and stir fry.

8. Add ketchup.

9. Add some boiled water.

10. When the soup boils, pour starch with water slowly while stirring the soup.

11. When the soup boils again, pour scrambled eggs.

12. Add garlic or garlic powder.

13. Add some salt.

14. Pour some sesame oil on the top. It’s ready to serve!

Tip:

1. If you don’t have Ketchup or garlic, it is still OK as long as the tomatoes are fresh.

2. Sesame oil is not required, but very necessary if you want the most delicious taste. 

Egg Drop Soup’s Nutrition and Calories

For a homemade Egg Drop Soup, it’s about 13 calories every 100 g, compared to 90 calories in the restaurant made soup. You can reduce the sodium and adjust the flavor according to your health needs. It is very suitable for people who are on a diet.

According to nutritionists determination, by having 50 to 100 grams of fresh tomatoes per day, you can satisfy several kinds of vitamins and minerals the body needs. Tomato can enhance bacteria inhibition. It is rich in carotene, vitamin C, vitamin B, vitamin B2, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, iodine and other elements. It also contains protein, carbohydrates, organic acids, cellulose. Tomato is very rich in nutrition. But how can you maximize its function and even protect you from liver cancer?

Our recipe in this post is a good example. When you fry the tomato, lipid solubility such as lycopene can be better absorbed by human body. Lycopene can prevent and treat prostate disease, protect cardiovascular system, delay skin aging, protect liver function and enhance immunity system and so on.

Some other Egg Drop Ideas

If you like seaweed, it’s a good idea to add some seaweed pieces before you drop the egg. Or if you are running out of tomatoes one day, but you have corns, you can make corn and egg drop soup. Other ingredients you can add to the traditional Egg Drop Soup is ground beef, sliced thin pork, black fungus, tofu. And the flavor can be sweet, or spicy. It’s totally up to your exploration.

But if you say, huh, I don’t like any of these egg drop ideas, or you have other interesting and fun ways to develop a new Egg Drop Soup recipe, please feel free to leave in the comment box. I would love to know!