Egg Drop Gravy Rice Bowl with Garlic Chilli Crunch
Egg drop soup turned into a thick, glossy gravy with big silky egg ribbons, spooned over rice and finished with homemade crispy garlic chilli crunch: a café-style bowl.
Method
Finely chop the garlic and pat it dry with kitchen paper; wet garlic makes the oil spit. Put the red pepper flakes and salt in a heatproof bowl. Put the oil and garlic together, cold, in a small 16 cm pan and fry over medium-low heat for , stirring constantly. When the oil reaches about 130 °C, steady little bubbles rise around the garlic; as soon as it turns pale gold, pour it over the chilli flakes. The garlic keeps cooking in the residual heat, so if you wait for deep brown it will be bitter. Hot oil can spatter: stay at the stove and keep hands and face back from the pan.
Add in this stepNeutral oil (for the garlic) 3 tbspGarlic cloves 4Red pepper flakes 1 tspSalt 1 pinch
medium-low heatWarm the rice and divide it between bowls. Pushing it slightly to one side of the bowl leaves a space for the gravy and looks good.
Add in this stepHot cooked rice (jasmine or any long grain) 360 g
Put the stock, thinly sliced shiitake, sweetcorn, soy sauce, oyster sauce and white pepper in a 18 cm pot and simmer over medium-high heat for until the mushrooms soften.
Add in this stepChicken stock (low-salt) 300 mlFresh shiitake mushrooms 3Sweetcorn kernels (tinned or frozen) 80 gLight soy sauce 2 tspOyster sauce 2 tspWhite pepper 1 pinch
medium-high heatStir the cornstarch into the cold water and pour it in while stirring, then cook over medium heat for . It should be far thicker than soup, falling slowly from a spoon in a ribbon, so it stays on top of the rice.
Add in this stepCornstarch 4 tspCold water (for the slurry) 3 tbsp
medium heatBeat the eggs only loosely; a little streakiness gives bigger, prettier ribbons. Lower the heat to low heat, pour the egg over the gravy in a wide circle and leave for , then fold it over gently from the bottom just twice with a spatula. When the egg is about 80% set and still moist, turn off the heat and drizzle with the sesame oil.
Add in this stepEggs 3Toasted sesame oil 1 tsp
low heatSpoon the gravy generously over the rice, add a spoonful of garlic chilli crunch, scatter with the sliced spring onions and serve at once.
Add in this stepSpring onions 1
Cook's tip
Make extra garlic chilli crunch: in a sealed jar it keeps for about a week in the fridge. Add prawns or shredded chicken to the gravy for a heartier meal. Stirring the egg too much breaks it into scrambled bits, so fold only twice.
Cooking it at camp
Make the garlic chilli crunch at home and bring it in a jar; handling hot oil at a campsite is risky. Use pouch rice or rice cooked at home, and make the gravy in one small pot.