Saturday, May 3, 2008

Egg Drop Soup

4 cups chicken broth, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1. Reserve 3/4 cup of chicken broth, and pour the rest into a large saucepan. Stir the salt, ginger and chives into the saucepan, and bring to a rolling boil. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together using a fork. Drizzle egg a little at a time from the fork into the boiling broth mixture. Egg should cook immediately. Once the eggs have been dropped, stir in the cornstarch mixture gradually until the soup is the desired consistency.

Melba's Note: This is how I like my egg drop soup - simple. I also throw in some frozen corn, though, for a little crunch.

Sesame Chicken

2 Tbsp sesame seeds, raw
1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp dry sherry (I substitute 1/2 soy sauce and 1/2 maple syrup)
1 tsp ginger root, fresh, minced (yes, wouldn't that be nice? I used ginger from the spice jar)
1/2 tsp five-spice powder (in the asian section of the grocery store)
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-in pieces
2 tsp peanut oil


Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds and cook until lightly toasted, shaking the pan frequently, about 2 to 3 minutes; transfer seeds to a shallow dish and set aside.
Whisk water, soy sauce, maple syrup, sherry, ginger and five-spice power together in a small bowl; set aside.
Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish; add chicken and turn to coat. Shake chicken pieces to remove excess flour.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add soy sauce mixture to chicken and cook until sauce thickens and is almost evaporated, about 2 to 3 minutes more.
Dip chicken pieces in toasted sesame seeds and serve, drizzled with any additional soy sauce mixture. Yields 4 servings, about 4 strips per serving. 4 WW points per serving.

Melba's Note: Yesterday, Sammie turned in his last final for his first year of MBA school! Hooray! To celebrate, we had some of his school friends over for dinner. I served this, the egg drop soup, and the lettuce wraps (which, by the way, are only 5 ww points if you cut down the oil to only 1 tbsp.)