Three Egg Soup
By Michael · from our van kitchen
This is the soup we’ve been making a lot lately. I call it three egg soup. I don’t know what the official name is, but it has three kinds of eggs in it: salty egg yolk, a preserved duck egg, which is also known as the thousand-year-old egg, and a regular chicken egg. It’s super simple and it’s really tasty.
The version in this recipe is from a night in a Target parking lot in Atlanta, where I made it next to eggplant with minced pork and a pot of rice. You can watch me make it. I’ve made it on camera a couple more times since, at Mammoth Cave and in Indianapolis, so I’ve added what I did differently there.
Fry the flavour in first
The trick is that the eggs and the shrimp get fried before the water goes in. Low heat, just a little bit of oil, and a handful of the tiny dried shrimp. They make this soup so flavourful. Once they’re fried and smelling real nice, the preserved egg and the salted yolks go in. When the shell comes off, the preserved egg is black. That’s how it’s supposed to look. Smash the yolks in the pot so they break up. It’s going to fly out a little, it’s okay.
Then two slices of ginger, about 4 cups of water, and a boil for around 8 minutes. In Indianapolis I let it go 8 to 10 minutes.
The last egg
The bok choy goes in before the chicken egg, because the vegetables take a few minutes to cook. The egg is the very last thing. I mix in a little salt, pour it in, turn the fire off and put the lid on. I don’t stir it, I just let it sit. After about 5 minutes under the cover, it’s done.
Other ways we’ve made it
It changes a little every time. At Mammoth Cave I skipped the chicken egg and tossed in a whole salty duck egg instead, and look at how oily that yolk was. That one’s really good. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes and finished it with a pinch of white pepper and a little sesame oil. I forgot the chicken powder until we sat down, so I added it at the table.
In Indianapolis I threw in some garlic, and at the end I added some leftover duck blood and a few shrimp from a hot pot night. If you have chicken stock, use it instead of water to add more flavour. We didn’t have any, so it was water and chicken bouillon.
In Atlanta it had good flavours to the soup. Very good. That’s why we keep making it.
Ingredients
The eggs
- 1 preserved duck egg (thousand-year-old egg), peeled and cut up
- 2 salted egg yolks (we keep ours in the freezer)
- 1 regular chicken egg
- A little salt, for the chicken egg
Soup
- A little oil
- A handful of small dried shrimp
- 2 slices of ginger
- About 4 cups of water (chicken stock is even better)
- A pinch of white pepper
- Chicken powder (chicken bouillon)
- Bok choy
Steps
- Put the pot on low heat with just a little oil. Toss in a handful of dried shrimp and fry them until they smell really nice.
- Peel the preserved duck egg, cut it up and toss it in.
- Toss in the two salted egg yolks and smash them in the pot.
- Add two slices of ginger.
- Add about 4 cups of water, bring it to a boil and cook it for about 8 minutes.
- Season with a pinch of white pepper and some chicken powder. Mix it in and taste it.
- Add the bok choy and give it a few minutes. The vegetables need to cook before the last egg goes in.
- Mix the chicken egg with a little salt and pour it in. Turn off the heat, cover it and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Don't stir it.
Amounts are what I said in the video. Where I didn't measure, it says "to taste". Cook it your way.
