Chicken Corn Soup

Pakistani-Chinese chicken corn soup with clear chicken stock, sweetcorn, delicate egg ribbons and a lightly thickened texture.

Jump to ingredients | Jump to method

This restaurant-style soup begins with a clean homemade stock. Cornflour gives gentle body, while slowly streamed egg creates fine ribbons instead of large scrambled pieces.

Ingredients

• 500 g Bone-in chicken breast (skin removed)
• 1.8 litres Water
• 20 g Ginger (sliced)
• 4 Garlic cloves (lightly crushed)
• 4 Spring onions (white and green parts separated)
• 1.5 tsp Fine salt (divided)
• 1 tsp Black pepper (freshly ground, divided)
• 300 g Sweetcorn kernels (fresh, frozen or drained canned)
• 300 g Creamed corn (or blend half the kernels with stock)
• 1.5 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp White vinegar (plus more to serve)
• 5 tbsp Cornflour (mixed smoothly with 120 ml cold water)
• 2 large Eggs (beaten until uniform)
• 0.5 tsp Sesame oil (optional)
• 1 tbsp Chilli sauce (to serve; optional)

Step-by-step method

1. Put the chicken, water, ginger, garlic, spring-onion whites, 1 teaspoon salt and half the pepper in a large saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil and skim off the grey foam that rises.
2. Lower to a gentle simmer, partly cover, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes until the chicken reaches 75°C at the thickest part. A hard boil makes the stock cloudy, so keep only small bubbles at the surface.
3. Lift the chicken onto a clean plate. Strain the stock into a clean pan and discard the aromatics. When cool enough to handle, remove the bones and shred the meat into fine strips with two forks.
4. Bring 1.5 litres strained stock back to a simmer. Add sweetcorn, creamed corn, shredded chicken and soy sauce. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the corn is tender and the soup tastes well blended.
5. Stir the cornflour slurry again because it settles quickly. Pour it into the gently bubbling soup in a thin stream while stirring. Simmer for 2 minutes until the soup lightly coats a spoon; add more stock if it becomes gluey.
6. Reduce the heat until the surface barely moves. Stir the soup in one direction to make a slow whirlpool, then drizzle in the beaten egg from 15 cm above the pan. Wait 20 seconds before gently stirring the ribbons.
7. Add vinegar, remaining pepper and optional sesame oil. Taste before adding the remaining salt because soy sauce is salty. The soup should be savoury and lightly tangy, not sharply sour.
8. Garnish with spring-onion greens and serve piping hot with vinegar, soy sauce and chilli sauce at the table so each person can adjust their bowl.