Bean Curd Egg-Drop Dessert Soup
I definitely have a sweet tooth when it comes to eating. I've already shared with y'all my favorite Chinese dessert, Chinese Green Bean Soup, but this dried bean curd soup comes at a VERY close second. It's a Cantonese style dessert, and I've had it throughout my childhood. It's made with silky, thin sheets of soy along with thin strings of egg all flavored with a sugar syrup "soup." I want to say that I've hardly ever seen it at restaurants - usually they do the red bean or green bean soups, so I definitely think this is a recipe my mom brought over. It's super easy. You can put it together from start to finish in about 20 minutes.
So how does it taste? Well...first, you have to like soy products because the main ingredient here is soy bean sheets. So if you like that, then we're set. If you don't - well, I think you should try it anyway because it's a pretty innocuous dessert. It's a little bit like tofu pudding, only you get the texture of the softened bean curd sheets. The soup is lightly sweetened with Chinese slab sugar and accompanied with tender strings of egg. It is really a recipe catered to the eater because if you want your soup sweeter - add more sugar. If you want your bean curd sheets to break up into finer pieces - cook it longer. Be aware though. If you could this too long, the bean curd sheets will break down so much that it will melt away into something that just looks like soy milk - which actually isn't that bad either. For me personally, I prefer the sheets minimally cooked because I like that texture.
Tip: When going to the Asian supermarket to buy bean curd sheets, look in the dried section because there are refrigerated bean curd sheets as well. Look for the flat sheets which are used specifically used for this dessert (and congee as well). Different brands of dried bean curd sheets break apart differently - some quicker and some maintain more of a bite, so try them out and see which you like best. (The Oriental Mascot brand I bought is actually not the one I usually get. It broke apart much quicker and I hardly had to cook the sheets at all to get them to soften.)
Dried Bean Curd Sheets
Chinese Sugar Slabs
Eggs
Chinese Bean Curd Egg Drop Soup
(Makes 4-5 servings)
- 5 cups water
- 1/2 bag bean curd sheets
- 1 1/2 bars Chinese slab sugar
- 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
Directions
1.Break apart sheets. Submerge them in water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes depending on how broken apart you want the sheets.
- Prepare eggs by gently breaking yolks leaving a delineation between yolks and whites.
- Bring soup back to a boil. Slowly pour in the eggs. Turn off heat and put on cover. Wait about 5 minutes.
- Dessert is ready to be served warm or cold.