ChiaChia's Lake Washington Beef Soup (aka West Lake Beef Soup)

Five simple ingredients, ten mins of your time, and voila! - a hearty, earthy soup that warms your soul! This soup is named after one of the most beautiful lakes in China, the West Lake in Hangzhou, because, when it’s done right, it reminds people of the beautiful ripples and the weeping willows that grow around that lake. This is definitely a dish that's pretty to your eyes, yummy to your tummy, and warm and fuzzy to your soul!!

Ingredients

Beef Slices for hot pot (Finely chopped) x 4 oz **

Cremini Mushrooms (Thinly sliced) x 15-20 pcs

Cilantro (Roughly chopped) 1-1.5 cups

Egg (Beaten) x 1

Corn Starch x 1.5 tbsp

Ground white pepper corn x 1 tsp (Optional)

Water x 1250ml

**Watch the video for demo.

Recipe

1. Bring pot of water to boil. Add in sliced mushrooms into the boiling water, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.

<You can make this Step 1 ahead of time and just let the mushroom broth sit until ready to make the soup.>

2. If you did step 1 ahead of time, then bring the mushroom broth to boil again. If not, proceed to step 3.

3. Trun the heat up to medium high. add in finely chopped beef a little bit at a time. The beef should be cooked really fast, within a few seconds. Finish cooking all the beef.

4. Mixed Corn Starch with equal amount of water (1.5 tbsp), and starch the soup slowly.

5. Making Egg Drop! Use chopsticks, or any kind of stick to create a FAST spinning whirpool in the center of the pot. While doing that, SLOWLY add the egg into the whirpool to create the lacey, egg drop look.

6. Season with salt and ground white pepper (optional) to taste.

7. Add in chopped cilantro right before serving.

8. You're welcome! It's so yummy!!! <3

Watch my FB Live cooking: