"JUST LIKE THE CHIPPY" SWEETCORN SOUP

If I go to any Chinese restaurant or down to the chippy and I'm looking for a soup as a starter there is only one option; chicken and sweetcorn soup. It such a unique soup to the cuisine and one that I had never tried to recreate at home. That was until this week when I gave this meat free version a whirl and I was so surprised at how quick and simple it was to create this classic dish. What's even better is that its tastes so much fresher than the potentially MSG laden versions you can find in more dodgy food outlets.

 

There aren't many ingredients to this soup at all and it's a dish that you either love or hate so I really can't advise how you can amend the recipe in anyway other than to tell you that if you do want to add some chicken or crab meat for a meat eaters version I would simple add in some shredded cooked chicken or crab meat in with the soy and sesame oil and mix it through for the final simmer stage. Keep some back to sprinkle on top when you serve the soup if you want to make it look proper fancy dancy.

 

The recipe below will give a hefty portion for 2 or a light starter for 4. You can use 200g of tinned sweetcorn if you can't find proper uncooked corn cobs (these should be roughly 20cm in length by the way!). Make sure you get the best quality corn whether this is tinned or not as it really is the star of the show.

Chinese Sweetcorn Soup

3 Medium Corn Cobs

2 Sliced Medium Tomatoes

2 Grated Garlic Cloves

2 Beaten Eggs

1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

Salt And Pepper To Season

1. Place a large wok on the hob and fill it with 1 litre of water. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Whilst you wait for the water to boil, slice the corn kernels off the cobs and once the water is ready, add two thirds of the corn to the water along with the tomato, garlic and the naked corn cobs. Simmer for five minutes.
3. Remove the naked cobs before removing the wok from the heat and carefully blitzing the soup with a hand blender. You want the soup to be smooth-ish. This may take time as the corn will still be tender so be patient. Skim off any foam that may of formed on top of the soup. 
4. Bring the soup back up to a gentle boil and then carefully pour the beaten egg into the centre of the wok. Use a knife or a cocktail stick to cut through the egg until cooked strands of egg form through the soup. 
5. Add the remaining sweetcorn, the soy sauce and sesame oil and give everything a gentle mix together. Season with salt and pepper and then simmer the soup for around five more minutes until the sweetcorn is tender and soup has thickened slightly.

All that is left to do now is to serve your soup so ladle it out into your serving bowls and get stuck in. You'll be blown away by how similar but how much nicer this sweetcorn soup is compared to what you get in Chinese restaurants and when a recipe is this quick and simple you will definitely be making it again and again. Normally with soup I say you should serve it with bread but this soup requires a different accompaniment; prawn crackers of course (veggie varieties of which are available - give 'em a Google)! Just like the sweetcorn soup from the chippy, this sweetcorn soup is crackin'.