Por Por's Chicken Corn Soup

Earlier this year I year I lost my maternal Grandma, or Por Por (婆婆) in Cantonese.

One of the key things that defined her, was her passion for food. Even my earliest memories of her revolved around the kitchen as I watched her boiling soup, kneading dough, and forming dumplings.

Mum recalled that even though they were not well-off when growing up, Por Por worked hard to ensure there was good food on the table. Although Por Por was frugal, a key tenet she lived by was to not compromise when it came to spending on the family's healthcare and food. She saw good nutrition as a basis for health, an investment into her kids' futures and way she could show her love for them.  

This recipe is based on a soup Por Por used to make, passed onto my mum and therefore me.  It's a variation of Cantonese style egg drop soup. Apparently Grandma used to order this for me at big family dinners at Chinese restaurants, when I was still too little to partake in eating rice with the myriad of dishes swirling around on the lazy-Susan.

This is still my favourite soup today. It is warming, hearty and filling, and reminds me of my Por Por and every bit of love she put into making food for me.

Enjoy.

Ingredients

Serves 4 | Prep Time: 5-10 mins | Cook time: 20 mins

• 2-2.5 cups Chicken Stock (see note)
• 1/2 cup of Cooked Chicken meat (shredded or diced)
• 1 cup of Corn Kernels (can be fresh, frozen or canned)
• 1 cup/can of Creamed Corn (see note)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Cornflour
• 2 Tablespoons Water
• 1-2 stalks of Spring onion/Scallions, sliced thinly.
• Salt & Pepper to Taste

Instructions

1. Place stock and chicken meat in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for approx. 5 mins.
2. Add corn kernels. Bring to back to boil and simmer for 2-3 mins.
3. Add creamed corn. Simmer for 2-3 mins. Stir to ensure the creamed corn doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.
4. Crack the first egg into a bowl. Pour this into the pot whilst quickly stirring to break up the egg and form egg 'wisps' through the soup. I typically stir with large wooden cooking chopsticks.
5. Repeat previous step with the second egg. Simmer the soup for 2-3 mins
6. In a bowl, mix the cornflour with the water to create a 'milky' slurry. Ensure there are no lumps.
7. Pour the cornflour slurry into the soup whilst stirring. Simmer for 2-3 mins until the soup has thickened.
8. Add the spring onions/scallions (you can reserve some to garnish your soup if you wish) and simmer for a further minute.
9. Take the pot of heat and add salt + pepper to suit your tastes. Traditionally this is made with white pepper. But black pepper will suffice.
10. To serve the soup, garnish with spring onion, or small sprigs of other herbs you may have on hand e.g. parsley or coriander (optional)

Notes

1. Stock: This forms the base of your soup, so the better the quality the better your soup will be! You can use a store bought stock or bouillon, but I prefer to make my own stock. You can easily do this by simmering left over chicken bones and meat (e.g. wing tips) from a roast, with a roughly chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic for approx 30 mins, then strain.

2. Creamed Corn: Again you can use store bought creamed corn, but I have found commercial variants tend to be high in salt or fat, and can commonly contain preservatives, emulsifiers, flavouring, colouring or other additives. As a home made substitute, for each cup of creamed corn I will blend 1.5 cups of corn kernels with a 1/4 cup of milk. Avoid blending until smooth. You want to keep some texture in there!

3. Cornflour: Ensure you are continuously stirring whilst adding the cornflour, ensures this is evenly distributed in the soup to avoid it forming gelatinous lumps as the cornflour mixture thickens. The cornflour helps to make your soup thick and glossy. It will also help to stop all the meat and corn from sinking straight to the bottom of the pot.

Got a question? DM me at instagram.com/valimic.