Chicken & Corn Soup (Ji Rong Yu Mi Geng)

The story

Every American who grew up on Chinese takeout knows this soup, and almost nobody knows it takes one pot and a bag of frozen corn. The Chinese home version thickens with a little cornstarch and finishes with egg ribbons — restaurant texture, zero mystery.

Ingredients (6 + pantry staples)

• Chicken breast, minced — 6 oz / 170 g
• Frozen sweet corn — 2 cups
• Egg — 1, beaten
• Chicken stock cube — 1
• Cornstarch — 1.5 tbsp
• Scallions — 1, sliced

Pantry staples used (don't count toward the 6): salt, white pepper. Not stocked yet? See the pantry page.

Steps

1. Boil 4 cups / 1 L water with the stock cube; add corn and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the minced chicken (it fluffs into little clouds); simmer 3 minutes.
3. Stir in cornstarch slurry until slightly thick; turn heat low and ribbon in the egg.
4. White pepper and scallions. Serve hot.

Swaps

Creamed corn makes it sweeter and thicker (the Cantonese restaurant way). Skip the chicken for a vegetarian version.