Recipe - Beaten Egg Soup

5 cup Dashi; (or light chicken or
beef stock)
1 teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Light soy sauce
Splash sake'
2 teaspoon Cornstarch mixed w/ 2 T.
water
2 lg Eggs; beaten
One half teaspoon Fresh ginger juice *OR*
Finely chopped lemon rind or
green onion
4 Stalks trefoil (mitsuba) *OR
SUBSTITUTE following; cut
into 1" lengths
1 Sprig either watercress or
parboiled fresh; spinach

To assemble and serve: Bring the dashi just to a boil over high heat, then
simmer while seasoning to taste with the salt, soy sauce, and sak‚. Reduce
heat to low.

With the heat on low, stir in the cornstarchandwater mixture. Stir for 30
seconds or so till thick and smooth and raise heat to bring the soup to a
high simmer. Never let it boil.

Slowly pour a thin stream of beaten egg in a spiral over the entire surface
of the soup. Do not stir immediately, but let the egg start to set, about
30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir soup gently and constantly with a wire whisk
for another minute or so to allow the egg to separate into threadlike
filaments.

Finally, add the ginger juice and trefoil and remove from heat immediately.
Pour into individual soup bowls, garnishing each with a bit of trefoil from
the soup. Serve immediately.

Variation: Use One half cake tofu (bean curd), cut into 1/2inch cubes. Add
after the egg and let simmer till heated (about 30 seconds) before adding
the ginger juice and trefoil.

NOTES : Trefoil is a member of the parsley family. It is an annual herb
that has thin greenishwhite stalks approximately 6 to 7 inches long,
topped with a comopund leaf of three flat, deeply cut leaflets. Depending
on the variety, the leaves range in color and size from pale to bright
green and from small to rather full. It has a flavor somewhere between
sorrel and celery and an attractive light green color, mitsuba is used in
many Japanese dishes as a flavor and color accent. Used only fresh, it is
often lightly parboiled beforehand to rid it of any "parsleyish" overtones.
Also, professional cooks usually use only the stems because leaves and
stems have different cooking times, but it is not necessary to be so fussy.
The leaves become bitter if overcooked, so only lightly parboil or very
gently stirfry.(Request more info if desired. I ran out of room here. I
didn't know MC had a size limit!)
Recipe by: Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art pg. 346

Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 536 by "Valerie Whittle"
catspaw@inetnow.net on Jan 15, 1998