Asia's Most Famous Soup: Indonesian Egg Drop Soup

It seems that every country in Asia has their version of the culinary classic known as Egg Drop Soup. As a matter-of-fact, it seems that every town in every country of Asia has their version. My preference is this adaptation from Indonesia. What the Indonesian's do which is different is they add more body to the soup via the inclusion of fresh vegetables. This basically turns a first course soup into an entree!

Where most people have problems making Egg Drop Soup is with the addition of the egg. To get the perfect Egg Drop Soup, you want to slowly, and in a steady stream, add the egg and stir at the same time. If you just pour the egg into the soup, you basically end up with something resembling a gross mishap from a very sick bird. Not at all appetizing!

You can use any type of vegetable you want for this version of Egg Drop Soup, however what you don't want to do is overcook the veggies. You want the veggies to still have some crunch to them. In the case of this version, I opted for beansprouts not only because it is very Asian, but because the crunch and texture go wonderful with the egg and the stock. The green onions add a wonderful taste and the spinach... well, I just like spinach (in Indonesia they would use baby bok choy instead of spinach).

Another reason why I like the Indonesian version of this soup, is the way it is presented. They give you your bowl with a slice of lime floating atop and one mint leaf. The mint leaf, due to the heat of the soup, releases its natural oils into the soup and gives a wonderful fragrance when it is presented.

You can get the FREE recipe for Indonesian Egg Drop Soup from Fusion Asiana @ http://on.fb.me/1QAoHQu