Winter Melon Chicken Soup / 冬瓜鸡丝羹 / 冬瓜と鶏肉の卵スープ

I realised my two boys love to eat soup, perhaps they are influenced by the school's lunch? Soup is one of the popular menus in their school's lunch, such as miso soup, vegetable clear soup, Chinese style thick soup, and western-style cream soup. Both my boys love to eat soup with rice mixed in, this kind of rice is called "neko-meshi" in Japan. Neko-meshi means cat's rice literally, the food served to cat before the commercial cat food is available.  

最近发现到我家两小宝都喜欢喝汤和加了淀粉的羹，可能是学校午餐时常都有汤的关系吧？他们都喜欢把汤／羹和饭拌在一起吃，日本人称汤拌饭为“猫飯”就是在猫食商品还没出现之前猫咪们的食物。我家有两只贪吃的小猫咪！

This is one of my boys' favourite soups to turn into a delicious neko-meshi, they usually asked for "okawari", top-up/second serving. As for hubby and I, we like it hot with a lot of ground white pepper. 

孩子们喜欢把这冬瓜鸡丝羹变成美味的猫饭，都要吃两碗才够呢！孩子的爸妈也喜欢这羹，热腾腾的一大碗一定要加入多多的白胡椒粉才够劲。

Winter Melon Chicken Soup / 冬瓜鸡肉羹

Ingredients:

• 100 g chicken breast meat 
• 200 g winter melon, peel and cut into thin strips 
• 1 tsp wolfberries (枸杞子) 
• 1 no. egg, whisk lightly 
• 1 tbsp corn starch (mix with 2-3 tbsp water) 
• 500 ml water 
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder 
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

1. Bring water to the boil, add in chicken and cook until chicken is well cooked. Remove chicken and submerge it in a bowl of iced water. Set aside. 
2. Add winter melon strips and wolfberries into the pot, cook for about 10 minutes with low-medium heat. 
3. Meanwhile, remove chicken from iced water, pat dry with a paper towel and break into strips. 
4. Add chicken strips into the pot, season with salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Add in the starch mixture and mix well. Add in egg in a stream and swirl the soup gently with the ladle. Transfer to serving bowls and serve warm.