A long time favourite from childhood to now, the hot & sweet comforting sips on a cold rainy day is what soothes what ails you and keeps the blues away. Tender shredded chicken in a broth laced with silky egg ribbons is savory, comforting, and a drizzle of sesame oil rounds off all the flavours perfectly. From the mid & late 80s onwards this has been a huge favourite of mine. Whenever my family went to a Chinese style restaurant, we usually ended up getting some sweet corn chicken soup to start the dinner off.
Ingredients you need
- Chicken breast – I always have some chicken breast lying in the refrigerator, and it comes in handy.
- Aromatics – Chicken breast is cooked in ginger, garlic, and broth for extra flavor.
- SweetCorn – Use fresh if you have else canned corn also works.
- Creamed Corn – Creamed corn adds thickness to the soup.
- Eggs – Another key ingredient in this soup is the egg. When the egg is whisked into the simmering broth, it creates ribbon-like structures and gives the soup some body.
- Seasoning – This Sweet Corn Chicken Soup is mildly seasoned with salt, and freshly cracked pepper.
- Soy sauce – adds umami to the soup.
- Sesame Oil – to season at the end.
- Green Onion – For garnishing if needed
Steps to make Sweetcorn Chicken Soup
- Begin with making an aromatic broth base to poach chicken breast. I prefer sautéing garlic in oil to infuse the flavor. Once the broth comes to a boil, reduce heat. Add chicken breast and simmer for 6-7 minutes. Then remove from the broth and let it rest covered while you make rest of the soup. Note: For moist chicken, don’t skip resting it for 8-10 minutes. If you are using already-cooked chicken, then you will save 10 minutes straight away.
- Either you can shred poached chicken or cut it into smaller cubes. And to the pot add corn kernel and creamed corn to the remaining stock in the pot. Mix everything well.
- Next is to add whisked eggs slowly to the soup base to create silky ribbons. It adds body to the soup. Make sure to reduce the flame and stir soup slowly while adding the egg. The idea is to break the egg into thin strands.
- After adding the egg, let the soup simmer for a minute or so. Because the chicken is already cooked trough, add it just towards the end along with the seasonings. No need of cooking the chicken longer as it might dry out.