Information
Notes
“This was a standard in our family,” say Gene Young, a true mensch and an adept editor. Her mother, Mrs. Juliana Koo, who is 89 as I write, still prepares this when the family comes to visit. “It is a Shanghai dish that we ate for comfort,” Gene Young says. The chopped clam is optional but lends a stylish zing to this soup, which is served in the bowl in which it was steamed. A Chinese rice or soup bowl with about ¾ cup capacity is the most suitable for this, but standard custard cups that hold about ½ cup are also fine; just use 2 for each serving.
Ingredients
- 1 or 2 shucked and chopped cherrystone clams, with juice (optional)
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup slightly warm Basic Asian Chicken Soup
- ½ to 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- Green and white portions of 1 small scallion, finely minced
Directions
If you are using clams, put pieces and juice in the bottom of the soup bowl. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg with a fork until it is thin and frothy. Add chicken soup and soy sauce and beat again until frothy. Pour over clam in bowl, filling bowl to about ½ inch from the rim.
Place bowl, uncovered, in a Chinese bamboo steamer set over a wok half full of boiling water, or on a pierced metal vegetable steamer over boiling water. If you have neither, set bowl in a saucepan and add enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the bowl. Cover steamer or saucepan and steam for 6 to 8 minutes, or until egg sets in a creamy cap. (The steamer results in an airier custard.) Sprinkle with scallions and serve immediately.
If you prepare more than 1 bowl at a time, allow a little more time for steaming.