VietNamese Kitchen

Vietnamese Egg Drop Crab Soup
Súp Cua

History

Vietnamese egg drop crab soup is a popular contender at large party dinners and weddings. A variation of an egg drop soup is more often than not the opening course of an 8-course meal at a handful of Asian restaurants.

My egg drop soup uses crab meat—you can use pre-packaged crab meat or if you’re feeling fancy, you can use fresh crab meat. Either will work. Because this is a “quick & easy” recipe, I used pre-packaged crab meat.

Description

Egg Drop Crab Soup

The trickiest ingredient to find, in my opinion, is the vegetables. That sentence sounds odd… let me explain. Like the crab meat, you can use either pre-packaged, frozen vegetables. Or you can use fresh vegetables. If you’re going the pre-packaged route, make sure the mix doesn’t include green beans. Most frozen vegetable mixes I’ve come across have green beans, so I usually use fresh vegetables when making this soup. The only brand I could find without green beans is McCain. There’s really no special reason why you don’t want green beans in this soup… it’s just how I’ve always made it. If you’re a fan of green beans, you can go ahead and ignore this paragraph. The same can also be said about the other vegetables in this recipe as well—if you’re not a fan, don’t include it. Do make sure to include some vegetables though!

If you have all of the ingredients ready to go, this soup should take less than an hour altogether to prepare and make.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb crab meat
  • 2 eggs
  • 10 oz mixed vegetables (peas, corn, carrots—no green beans)
  • 1.4 oz bean threads
  • 5 slices ginger
  • 1 batch scallion
  • 1 tsp chicken seasoning
  • 1 tbsp pork flavored soup base
  • 1 tsp mushroom seasoning
  • 1 cup tapioca starch
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 11 cups water
  • pepper (optional)
  • 1/2 batch cilantro (optional)

Instructions

Pre

  1. Soak bean threads in warm water until softened, approximately 20 minutes. When bean threads are softened—using scissors, cut into small pieces, approximately 1/2 inches. Set aside.
  2. Cut and separate scallion stem from leaves. Using a knife, press and then mince scallion stem.
  3. In a bowl—combine crab meat, scallion stem, fish sauce, and dash of pepper. Set aside.
  4. Slice optional scallion leaves and cilantro. Set aside.
  5. Wash and rinse mixed vegetables. Set aside.
  6. In another bowl—combine 1 cup water and tapioca starch. Stir until tapioca starch dissolves. Set aside.
  7. In another bowl—using a fork, gently whisk eggs to break the yolk. Set aside.

Cooking

  1. Add remaining 10 cups of water to a cooking pot on medium-high heat.
  2. When water boils, add mixed vegetables, chicken seasoning, soup base, mushroom seasoning, and sugar.
  3. When vegetables soften, decrease to low heat.
  4. Using chopsticks or a ladle, gently stir soup while simultaneously adding in eggs.
  5. Add bean threads.
  6. Give tapioca starch mix another stir before adding to the pot. When soup comes to a second boil, while still stirring, gently add in tapioca starch.
  7. When soup comes to a third boil, add crab meat.
  8. Soup is done when it comes to a fourth and final boil.

Serving

  1. Sprinkle optional pepper, scallion leaves, and cilantro into individual serving bowls.
  2. Enjoy!