sweet corn and crab meat soup

Simplified from Kylie Kwong's recipe

Ingredients:

1 can corn kernels
2 tablespoons oil
½ white onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons ginger,julienned
1 garlic clove,minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shao hsing wine
1¾ L chinese chicken stock** (See recipe below)
1 can crab meat (175g)
1½ teaspoons light soy sauce
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tablespoon finely sliced green shallot
pinch of ground white pepper
cornflour mixture (around 4 tbs corn starch to 8 tbs cold water)

Method
1 Heat oil in a heavy-based pot and sauté onions, ginger, garlic and salt for 5 minutes.
2 Add wine and simmer until it has reduced by half.
3 Stir in corn and stock, bring to the boil.
4. Add corn starch mixture to achieve desired consistency.
5 Stir through crabmeat and soy sauce, then lower heat and slowly pour the beaten eggs into the soup in a thin stream, stirring constantly with a fork.
6 Remove soup from the heat as soon as you see the eggs forming fine ‘ribbons’.
7 Serve the soup in bowls, garnished with shallots and pepper.

serves 8 as a starter

Comments: The picture really doesn't do this soup justice!! With the addition of some tang hoon, bean sprouts and vinegar, you can definitely serve this as a mock shark's fin soup....i used to love sharks' fin soup as a child....my dad would let me order it whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant...i can't say why i liked it so much...i think mainly cos it was one of the most expensive items on the menu! I was spoilt, wasn't i??!!
Nowadays, of course we don't eat shark fins as much cos it's a very cruel n sharks also contain high levels of mercury..
I digress again...the point of comparing it to the shark fin's soup was to highlight the fact that this soup is very 'sweet' in the umami sense..and really pretty simple to make!
Please note that the proportion for the cornstarch mixture is a guess-timate...do add more if needed...just make sure that the cornstarch is dissolved in some cold water before adding...the original recipe didn't have it..so you can omit the cornstarch altogether if you prefer a clearer and lighter soup. :)

**Chicken stock:
ingredients:
1 chicken rack, blanched
2 L water
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp white peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 pieces ginger
method:
Snip off the fatty bits on the bones and blanch in boiling water.
Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover.
Simmer for 2 hours. Skim off scum (the white stuff and bubbles that gathers on the surface) occasionally.

Comments: This stock is very clean tasting and can be used for a variety of purposes. If you have extra, just freeze it in ice cube trays. Use in stir frys and any recipe which calls for water...it adds that extra 'oomphf'.You can also use it to cook rice. Add some ginger, garlic and pandan leaves and it'll be very similar to hainan chicken rice. And you can also use the bones for cooking porridge or congee..
And now i must do my 'auntie' spiel...the chicken bones were from Lenard's. They're only 25 cents each!! SO CHEAP!! Ha....my dinner mates didn't understand my enthusiasm for the chicken bones...i guess I just get excited when i can make something instead of buying it...in this case, making stock from scratch and not having to pay 3 bucks for a small tetra pack...! :P