Bean curd stick and egg sweet soup

Ingredientsserves 4

Method

1. Break the bean curd sheets into pieces and rinse off the dust. The soy-shop master's way is to put them in dry, straight into boiling water; most home cooks soak them ten minutes first. Either works; what matters is that the water is boiling.
2. Bring five cups of water (about 1.25 litres) to a rolling boil, add the bean curd (and the lotus seeds if using), lid half on, and keep it at a steady boil thirty to forty minutes, stirring so it does not catch, until the sheets have gone to a cloudy cream with a few soft pieces left.
3. If the bean curd stays chewy in clear water, it is almost always the wrong kind, the thick fried sticks for braising, or an old packet. Buy the thin flat sheets sold for sweet soup, put them into boiling water, and keep it boiling.
4. Eggs, two ways: hard-boil them in a separate pan eight minutes, cool in cold water, peel and drop them whole into the pot, one per bowl, the dessert-shop way; or beat them, turn the heat down and pour them in a thin stream while stirring so they set as ribbons, the home way. Ribbons poured into a hard boil turn to grey scum; lower the heat first.
5. Add the rock sugar and let it dissolve, five minutes more.
6. Serve hot, one whole egg or a share of ribbons in each bowl.

Take care

• Contains egg and soy. Boil a whole egg the full eight minutes; egg ribbons must be cooked until set, with no liquid egg left.

The story

Bean curd sweet soup is the Guangdong classic that U Food calls the most-made sweet soup in Hong Kong homes, because it needs three things and half an hour. It is the bowl the dessert shop sells cheapest, and the one the older generation made from the packet of bean curd kept for 羅漢齋.

Same wall

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.