It is so cold in my house. As I'm typing this, I'm sitting at my desk and wearing wool socks, a thick wool jacket, and gloves. And there's a heater on. When it's this cold (and I'm in California so it's nowhere as cold as everywhere else!) all I want is a piping hot bowl of soup. To make the ultimate comfort dish, I combined some of my husband's favorite dishes including Chinese corn soup and porridge to make Chinese chicken and rice corn soup. It's incredibly easy to put together but still looks fancy with the crispy shallots and scallion oil. Heck, the soup is so delicious I'll eat this year-round.

Recipe

Print Recipe

Chinese Chicken and Rice Corn Soup

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Soup

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: chicken

Servings: 4

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Crispy shallots

• ¼ cup thinly sliced shallots
• ¼ cup canola oil

Scallion oil

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon chili oil
• 2 tablespoon scallions thinly sliced

Soup

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic minced
• 14 ounces canned creamed corn
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1 egg beaten
• salt and pepper

Instructions

• Make the crispy shallots. Add the sliced shallots to a medium saute pan. Add ¼ cup oil and bring the pan to heat over medium-low heat. Slowly cook the shallots until lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove shallots from the pan with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel-lined plate. Let cool completely.
• Make the scallion oil by combining 1 tablespoon sesame oil with 1 tablespoon chili oil, and 2 tablespoon sliced scallions. Let sit for 10 minutes.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the chopped shallot, 1 teaspoon ginger, and 1 teaspoon garlic. Saute for 30 seconds or until aromatic. Add the canned creamed corn and 2 cups chicken broth and stir to combine. Cover the pot and bring to a boil.
• Add 2 cups of rice and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
• Stir in 1 cup shredded chicken and heat the soup for another 3-4 minutes. Drizzle in the beaten egg and let it sit undisturbed for 1 minute. Stir the soup and season with salt and pepper.
• Portion the soup into bowls and serve with scallion oil on the side.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Chinese corn soup is probably one of the easiest Asian soups to make. All you do is combine canned creamed corn with chicken stock, swirl in some egg, and it's done. You may be hesitant to try canned creamed corn but let me tell you, it's delicious. Plus corn isn't in season in the winter so it's the perfect way to cheat and still get that sweet corn flavor.

Today we're elevating the basic corn soup and transforming it into a Chinese chicken and rice corn soup. Take the basic idea of Chinese corn soup, add rice, and shredded chicken, swirl in that egg, and finish with spicy scallion oil and crispy shallots.

To make the shallots, heat thinly sliced shallots with oil over medium-low heat. Slowly cook the shallots until they get browned. There is a thin line between when the shallots turn golden and when they burn so keep a close eye on them. Remove the shallots with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels. The shallots will become crispy as it cools.  Alternatively, you can always buy fried shallots sold at Asian markets. Oh, and go ahead and save that shallot oil and use it to make a tasty vinaigrette.

For the scallion oil, simply combine equal parts sesame oil with chili oil and sliced scallions.

Once the Chinese chicken and rice corn soup becomes the consistency of porridge, swirl in that beaten egg. Let it sit for 1 minute to allow the egg to cook, then stir the soup. Add in the shredded chicken and serve with the prepared crispy shallots and scallion oil.

I made sure to make enough of this soup to feed both my husband and me and it still wasn't enough. He went for seconds and soon the entire pot was gone. I take it that it was quite good.

For more Asian soup inspiration check out this lemongrass turmeric chicken noodle soup!