Title: Beaten egg soup
 Categories: Eggs, Soups & ste, Japanese
      Yield: 4 Servings
 
      5 c  Dashi; (or light chicken or
           -beef stock)
      1 ts Salt
    1/2 ts Light soy sauce
           Splash sake'
      2 ts Cornstarch mixed w/ 2 T.
           -water
      2 lg Eggs; beaten
    1/2 ts Fresh ginger juice *OR*
           Finely chopped lemon rind or
           -green onion
      4    Stalks trefoil (mitsuba) *OR
           -SUBSTITUTE following; cut
           -into 1" lengths
      1    Sprig either watercress or
           -parboiled fresh; spinach
 
  To assemble and serve: Bring the dashi just to a boil over high heat,
  then simmer while seasoning to taste with the salt, soy sauce, and
  sak‚. Reduce heat to low.
  
  With the heat on low, stir in the cornstarch-and-water mixture. Stir
  for 30 seconds or so till thick and smooth and raise heat to bring
  the soup to a high simmer. Never let it boil.
  
  Slowly pour a thin stream of beaten egg in a spiral over the entire
  surface of the soup. Do not stir immediately, but let the egg start
  to set, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stir soup gently and constantly
  with a wire whisk for another minute or so to allow the egg to
  separate into threadlike filaments.
  
  Finally, add the ginger juice and trefoil and remove from heat
  immediately. Pour into individual soup bowls, garnishing each with a
  bit of trefoil from the soup. Serve immediately.
  
  Variation: Use 1/2 cake tofu (bean curd), cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Add
  after the egg and let simmer till heated (about 30 seconds) before
  adding the ginger juice and trefoil.
  
  NOTES : Trefoil is a member of the parsley family. It is an annual
  herb that has thin greenish-white stalks approximately 6 to 7 inches
  long, topped with a comopund leaf of three flat, deeply cut leaflets.
  Depending on the variety, the leaves range in color and size from
  pale to bright green and from small to rather full. It has a flavor
  somewhere between sorrel and celery and an attractive light green
  color, mitsuba is used in many Japanese dishes as a flavor and color
  accent. Used only fresh, it is often lightly parboiled beforehand to
  rid it of any "parsleyish" overtones. Also, professional cooks
  usually use only the stems because leaves and stems have different
  cooking times, but it is not necessary to be so fussy. The leaves
  become bitter if overcooked, so only lightly parboil or very gently
  stirfry.(Request more info if desired. I ran out of room here. I
  didn't know MC had a size limit!) Recipe