Chayote (Chokos) Egg-Drop Soup
I have two renditions of chayote coming up. It is not my first time with chayote (Note: Just like cabbage, I also keep hardy chayote (chokos) in my fridge as part of my 1 week of vegetables supply). But I wanted to do something else other than stir-fry. Chayote (Chokos) Egg-Drop Soup came to my mind as a result of the weird quantity of egg left in the fridge. ONE.
It was my first time making Chayote (Chokos) Egg-Drop Soup. However, I was over greedy - added too much vegetables (chayote, cabbage) in my soup and ended up in a stew-like soup. It does not have a lot of liquid (due to relatively more solid ingredients) to be a soupy soup AND does not have classic-stew-like (thick) consistency. ANYWAY, I could have jolly well added more stock or water to correct the mistake but that bowl was already quite a huge portion of food for two servings and if I have added more water or stock: it would have become a 4-serving soup (too much liquid!) and the taste might have been diluted (double whammy!).
Naturally, the soup was a half-flop due to the absence of egg-drop consistency which is supposed to be smooth and silky-like-texture of egg-drop. Fortunately, the other half-success was: I managed to create something quite delicious...
out of 2 tablespoons of ground beef (Note1: I said "2 tablespoons" because it is really small quantity of beef I am using - more for flavor rather than substance, this same trick I have been using quite recently and frequently), that "guilty" egg and the vegetables, of course. The usual aromatics I used: garlic and ginger. But it is no more soup. No more egg-drop.
Stew. Soup. Stoup. Do you think I like this word? Nope.
Chayote (Chokos) Egg-Drop Stew-like Soup "Stoup"
Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, finely minced; 2cm-knob ginger, finely minced; 2 tablespoons of ground beef; drizzle of Chinese cooking wine; 4 fresh shitake mushrooms caps, thinly sliced; 1 chayote, thinly sliced; 2 handfuls of shredded cabbage; salt and white pepper to taste; 1 egg, lightly whisked; drizzle of sesame oil
Directions: Heat some oil in a pot, add in ginger and garlic and fry till fragrant. Add the beef, breaking beef into small bits while frying in the pot. Drizzle of cooking wine around the edge of the pot to sizzle the beef bits. Add in mushrooms and fry with the beef. When cooking wine almost evaporates, add chayote and cabbage and mix well with the beef and mushrooms. Add 1 to 1-1/2 cups water, salt and white pepper to taste, cover the pot and allow simmer at low heat (about 10 to 15 minutes) till chayote and cabbage turn tender. Turn off heat, and gently stir in the egg mixture (Note2: The egg will be cooked eventually by the heat of the mixture). Drizzle 2-3 drops of sesame oil before serving for aroma.
My first Chayote (Chokos) Egg-Drop Soup goes to 
Cabbage and chayote both have natural sweetness. With the savory beef and those usual aromatics make the dish...very tasty. Blessings in a disguise but a mistake is still a mistake thanks to that "guilty egg".
Tag: chayote, egg drop, soup, egg drop soup
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