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[Photograph: Chichi Wang]

About the author: Born in Shanghai and raised in New Mexico, Chichi Wang currently resides in Manhattan, where she divides her time between writing, cooking, and tracking down the best noodles in the city. Visit her blog, Mostly Tripe.

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About This Recipe

Yield: Serves 4
Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Special equipment: Medium saucepan or wok
This recipe appears in: Chichi's Chinese: West Lake Soup

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces ground pork or minced beef fillet, or white fish fillets, such as cod or flounder, roughly chopped
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
  • 6 cups homemade or store-bought low sodium chicken broth
  • 5 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
  • 4 egg whites, lightly beaten
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 1/4 cups finely chopped cilantro

Procedures

  1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine meat with 1 teaspoon salt, soy sauce, and rice wine and set aside.

  2. Combine broth and slurry in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until broth comes to a boil and thickens slightly. Reduce heat to a bare simmer.

  3. Add the marinated ground meat stirring to break it up as you add it (stir gently if using fish). When the meat or fish is just cooked (about 30 seconds for meat or 2 minutes for fish), add egg whites by drizzling them into the simmering broth and stirring the broth around slowly with a pair of chopsticks. When egg whites are solidified, about 30 seconds longer, turn off the heat. Add white pepper and more salt to taste. Add chopped cilantro and stir around to incorporate. Serve immediately.