This Asian-inspired Cream of Corn & Ginger Soup doesn’t actually have any cream in the recipe, but when I blitzed the soup in the blender, it transformed & become creamy enough to justify its name.
With flavors inspired by childhood memories: slurping on a bowl of chicken & corn soup at a favorite Chinese restaurant, Cream of Corn & Ginger Soup conjures up quite powerful emotions to a time when I had little more to concern myself with than how to master the art of chopstick eating.
It really doesn’t seem so long ago but it was about 44 years ago or more I walked into my first real Chinese restaurant with my mum, step-father & sister. I got to use chopsticks. I was allowed to taste wine. And I ate everything served to us. And every time I walk into a Chinese restaurant in Sydney, I get those same feelings I did when I was a little girl – elation & anticipation. We’d often eat corn & chicken soup to start. This is a variation. No chicken in this version, apart from the broth, plus I blended the soup because that’s what I was craving when I made this. But the flavors are still as I remember them.
It’s sweet, creamy & delicious with the piney, distinctive taste of ginger. And tastes like memories of a young, extroverted girl who loved good food, even back then. Do you have any stand-out moments of childhood food memories? I’d love to hear them.
Cheers,
More recipes that stir the childhood tastebuds:
Chicken, Snow Peat & Cashew Chicken
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons dry sherry
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sriracha
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
- 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
- 1 cup chopped white onion (about 1 onion)
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 tablespoons chopped ginger
- 4 cups corn kernels*
- 6 cups (1.5 litres) chicken broth
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
- Combine soy sauce, sherry, sriracha & cornflour in a small bowl; set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until the onion is softened.
- Add the corn, broth, salt, pepper & soy mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until the corn is softened.
- Add the mixture to a blender in two or three batches & blend until smooth. Or leave the soup in the saucepan & use an immersion blender.
- Sprinkle the soup with green onions to serve.
- *Use fresh corn, removed from the cobs by placing one cob on its end & running the knife down the cob to remove the kernels. Or use frozen corn kernels.
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