Chinese Velvet Corn Soup (by request)

Clarissa

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 9:49 am

Chinese Velvet Corn Soup
Yesterday at 10:25pm | Edit Note | Delete
from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special, with a few adjustments by me

1 Tablespoon canola or other vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onions
1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups fresh corn kernels
4 cups water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil

In a soup pot, heat the oil on medium-high heat and add the chopped onions, ground Sichuan peppercorns and salt. Saute until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups of the corn and saute for 5 minutes. Add the water, sugar, sherry and rice vinegar, cover the pot, and bring to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Carefully puree the hot soup in a blender in batches. Return it to the soup pot, add the remaining cup of corn, and reheat very gently. Meanwhile, beat the egg white in a small bowl until frothy. Pour it into the pot in a thin stream while stirring the soup slowly. Add the dissolved cornstarch and the sesame oil and continue to stir until slightly thickened.

Serve hot, garnished with scallions.
Serves 4, yields 6 1/2 cups

MY NOTES:

I like to use more corn. I vary it, but I usually add some to the first part. I want a strong corn taste, and figure I can thin it out later, if necessary. I find sesame oil overpowering, and use less or even none. Sometimes if I have vegetable stock on hand I'll use a little with the water, but this is not important at all.

Here's the big change, and I think it's very important: After blending, I put the soup through a strainer or sieve to get out the corn skins and whatnot. It makes it unbelievably smooth (and corn skins can be chewy) and creamy. You can't use a chinois (fine mesh strainer) or other double mesh strainer, or all you'll get is corn water. You need a regular strainer or sieve, and you need to just keep pressing to get out all the corn goodness, before dumping the skins. It's time-consuming, but it's totally worth it. Then you take the strained soup, return to pot, and do the other steps, adding the whole corn and all that.

I've eaten the leftovers cold, and the soup is still really good.

EXTRA NOTE FOR IMAMOTHER: If you can't find some of these things, or can't find them kosher, I think they can have substitutions and even be eliminated.

Last edited by Clarissa on Mon, Jun 29 2009, 9:54 am; edited 1 time in total

Clarissa

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 12:19 pm

GR wrote:

I feel a bit silly asking this, but otherwise I'll never know unless I experiment. I usually stay away from soup recipes that tell me to pour the soup into a blender, because I can just see in myself an accident waiting to happen.
Would it work to use one of those hand immersion blenders instead? Or would it not to a good enough job?

Straining the corn sounds like a good idea, because I can just see my kids getting turned off from the skins and stuff.

Excellent question, young lady. This time, I tried the immersion blender, figuring it would be a less messy experience than using the big blender. Sadly, it didn't work well. The corn stubbornly stayed too chunky. I wound up ladling it out into this neat mini-blender (easier to deal with and clean than a big blender) that I use for a lot of things. I do understand your feelings, as sometimes blending hot liquids can be pretty awful. One thing I recommend (and I did it this time) is to let the soup cool before blending, and to not overfill.

This mini-blending thing has proved useful for a lot of jobs (I use it for shakes, salad dressings, marinades, etc.) and it worked well for this, as there was no way for anything to splash out. A big blender works as well, but it tends to be messier, at least in my case.

I just don't find pureeing with the immersion blender makes a really smooth soup, and I'm into smooth. Maybe for other things, like squash, where there is no skin involved?

Clarissa

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 12:40 pm

Barbara wrote:

Ever try it without the Sichuan peppercorns? I think they would be too hot for my DH (althoug not for the kid, oddly enough).

They're actually not hotter than regular peppercorns, just different. In fact, they're not as hot or spicy as black peppercorns. I like to use them, because I hoarded them during the ban (it lasted for years) and love to have a reason to use them. But you can certainly leave them out.

From Wiki-pepper:

Sichuan pepper has a unique aroma and flavour that is not hot or pungent like black or white pepper, or chili peppers, but has slight lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth (caused by its 3% of hydroxy-alpha-sanshool) that sets the stage for these hot spices.

gryp

Mon, Jun 29 2009, 12:54 pm

Clarissa wrote:

GR wrote:

Thanks.

(My father used to call me "young lady" when I was bad. Haven't been addressed that way since, LOL.)