The whole flavour of this soup stands on two things: eggs fried until genuinely golden on both sides, and water at a full boil when it hits the pan. Skimp on either and the broth stays thin. After that it is a short simmer with tofu, then cabbage, and a scatter of scallion and goji berries at the end.
Home-style · Soup
Milk-White Cabbage and Tofu Soup Built on Fried Eggs
Four eggs fried hard and cut into chunks give this two-ingredient soup its body. Boiling water poured over the golden eggs is what turns the broth pale and creamy without any stock.
- Prep10 min
- Cook15 min
- Serves3
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 0.5 | napa cabbage , cut into sections |
| 200 g | firm tofu , cut into thick slabs |
| 4 | eggs |
| as needed | ginger , shredded |
| 1 spoon | cooking oil |
| a little | salt and chicken bouillon |
| a little | chopped scallion and goji berries, to finish |
Method
- Shred the ginger, cut the cabbage into sections and cut the tofu into thick blocks.
- Heat the oil in a pot and pour in the 4 eggs. Fry over low heat until both sides are deeply golden, then lift out and cut into bite-size chunks.
- Leave the remaining oil in the pot and fry the ginger shreds until fragrant.
- Return the fried egg chunks to the pot and pour in boiling water; the broth turns milky white almost immediately.
- Add the tofu and simmer over medium-low heat for 2 minutes.
- Add the cabbage, season with salt and chicken bouillon, and simmer another 3 minutes.
- Finish with chopped scallion and a few goji berries and serve hot.
Notes
- The water must be boiling when it goes in; cold water will not emulsify the broth the same way. Serve it as a quiet bowl on its own, or as a plain side for something richer.
- Fry the eggs longer than feels necessary. Pale eggs give a pale, flat soup.
Ratios and technique checked against 喜洋洋717 on Douguo (白菜豆腐汤). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.