Diversion: Beef & Vegetable Egg Drop Soup

Serendipity!

I just devised the most amazing Beef & Vegetable Egg Drop Soup, and here it is for anyone interested in giving it a try:

Broth Ingredients:
- 1 package Bak Kut Teh soup seasoning (it's Chinese/Malaysian; the kind we have looks like an overgrown tea bag, and consists of a bunch of mild herbs and seasonings that flavour broth the same way a teabag flavours tea; Bak Kut Teh bags can be purchased at your local Chinese market)
- 1 tablespoon beef broth (broth without MSG is highly recommended)
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste, mixed with 1 cup warm water (if you hate spicy food you can replace this with a can of tomato soup)
- 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce (we have Indonesian salty soy sauce, purchased at a local Chinese market; it's quite different from generic soy sauce commonly available at grocery stores)
- 5 tablespoons fish sauce (just enough of this stuff will give your soup the tiniest hint of something 'different', NOT 'fishy')

Soup Ingredients:
- 2 cups diced chicken, beef or the meat of your choice (raw or cooked meat is fine)
- 7 cloves of garlic, diced (less if you don't like garlic)
- half an onion, chopped
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1.5 cups broccoli, chopped
- 1.5 cups celery, chopped
- 1 cup cooked rice (Jasmine rice is highly recommended for its flavour; Uncle Ben's is an absolute no-no)
- 2 raw eggs

Instructions:
- Place the Bak Kut Teh in a large pot of water and bring to a boil
- If you're using raw meat, dice it, and place it in the water
- After boiling the soup for about 15 minutes place the garlic, onions, broccoli, and celery in the water and boil for another 10 minutes
- Add the rest of the broth ingredients, along with the cooked rice, sliced tomato, and if you have cooked meat you can add that at this point as well
- Add eggs to boiling soup and stir. The more briskly you stir, the smaller the egg pieces will be, whereas if you do not stir after adding the eggs you will end up with two poached eggs in your soup. So, while stirring at your desired speed let the soup simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

Serve and ENJOY!