Time for another recipe from Lerner Book’s easy menu ethnic cookbook series (I have 10 in my collection)! Today it’s from Cooking the Japanese Way (1983). Interestingly, the author of this cookbook was Reiko Weston who opened what became a well-known Twin Cities Japanese restaurant, Fuji Ya, in downtown Minneapolis in 1959, later moving it to the Mississippi riverfront.
Today’s recipe is for Eggdrop Soup. I make egg drop soup frequently but my version was obviously not authentic! Rest assured, this one’s the real deal! I was intrigued by the key ingredient in the recipe – “dashinomoto.” It is an instant powdered soup base made from dried seaweed and flakes of dried bonito fish called katsuobushi. Homemade soup stock is called dashi. I had no luck finding dashinomoto in area grocery stores and ended up ordering it on Amazon.
Wow – what a difference! Dashinomoto is truly the secret ingredient for this simple soup. It’s one of those recipes that you can throw together – again, if you have the right ingredients on hand – to round out any meal! Here’s that basic soup recipe you will need to make first, followed by the eggdrop soup recipe.
Basic Clear Soup/O-sumashi
3 cups water
1 heaping teaspoon dashinomoto
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon soy sauce
In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in dashinomoto, salt and soy sauce.
Eggdrop Soup/Tamago Toji
1 egg (I used two and recommend it)
2 tablespoons scallions, finely chopped
3 cups basic clear soup
Beat egg and scallions together in a small bowl. In a saucepan, bring basic clear soup to a boil. Swirl egg mixture around the inside of the pan in a small stream, making a circle. Remove from heat and pour into four bowls to serve.
connieiscooking 
This soup was amazing and just think, you can make it at home!