Sup Jagung (Corn Soup) - My Kitchen My World #8 (China)

After reading a recipe entry from Dwiana of The Adventure of my cooking diary, I joined My Kitchen My World (MKMW) organized by Susan of She's Becoming DoughMessTic. Every week, MKMW will pick one country to be explored (from the culinary side) and the members have 7 days to find a recipe from the country chosen and post it every Sunday. Sounds like fun, isn't it?

This week is our 8th weeks and China has been chosen to celebrate the Olympic Games through its cuisine. Yay! Here I am presenting you our family favorite "Sup Jagung (Corn Soup)" as my first entry for My Kitchen My World (you can find all members on my sidebar).

The original recipe is from our niece whose father is from Palembang, South Sumatra. Palembang cuisine has influence from the Chinese since they have the biggest Chinese community there. Don't be surprise if you met a Palembangese but she/he looks like Chinese, since some of them has a Chinese descendant.

The first time I made this soup was based on request from my sister last two months. She told me that she missed this soup especially when she was here for vacation, the weather in Bremen was cold. She just told me what is the ingredients and I did the rest. Thanks God, they (sister, mom and my 5 years old niece) loved it.

The recipe below is a modification from the one giving by my sister. I add red chilies to make it hot. I used dried Chinese mushroom "could ear fungus" instead of button mushroom, and my decision to add red chilies and use could ear fungus was right, since my better half loved it (even he forgot about his carbohydrate diet as corn is one of it).

Sup Jagung (Corn Soup)
Recipe by my niece, Modified by me

Ingredients:
1 can of sweet corn kernel (ca 340 gr)
4 carrots, peeled, small diced
25 gr dried could ear fungus, soak in hot water, drained, sliced
2 stalks of green onion, angle sliced
4 red chilies, angle sliced
1 block of beef broth (you can use chicken/vegetable broth)
½ onion, diced
4 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 100 ml water*
Water as needed
1 egg, beaten**
Sugar to taste
Vegetable oil for sautéing

Spices, puree:
1 medium size onion (original recipe used small red onion)
3 cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper

Method:
1. Boil corn, carrot and mushroom over moderate heat.
2. Heat oil in a skillet. Sauté pureed spices, ½ onion and green onion until fragrant. Fold in into the boiling corn. Mix well.
3. Pour into cornstarch mixture gradually while stirring. Season with sugar (you can add salt and pepper when needed) and continue cooking until the gravy become thick.
4. Gradually pour into beaten egg while stirring. Cook until set and remove from the heat.

Notes:
* Cornstarch can be added according to the desired thickness.
** Using only white egg will make it healthier.