When I was an undergraduate in Harrisonburg, VA there was a Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon Cafe, that I frequented. It was inexpensive and always amazing. I'm not sure if it's still there, as I haven't been back in quite awhile but nonetheless the food memory of it always stayed with me. One of the items I ordered all the time (on par with hot & sour soup at Chinese restaurants) was their Crabmeat & Asparagus soup.
Though I never had the pleasure of making this in any restaurants, I order it every time I see it on a menu. The fortified chicken broth is lightly thickened, balanced with rice wine and vinegar, and the egg whites give the crab and asparagus a great velvety balance. The base of the soup should be chicken broth that you fortify with spices and the asparagus stems to impart the flavor into the base. If for whatever reason you do not eat chicken, you can substitute vegetable or crab broth, you will just have to adjust the thickness a little more as neither of those broths thicken as well as a nice chicken broth.
When I made this I used claw meat and the asparagus stems in the soup then finished the soup with asparagus tips and scallions on top. When you are making a soup like this, that relies on the asparagus for taste, texture, and appearance you want to make it as bright green as possible. To do that you trim the asparagus and take the bottom 1/4 (it varies a little bit depending on the age and thickness of the asparagus) and add that to your stock to make it taste like asparagus. With the rest of the asparagus you want to blanche it in lightly salted rolling water for just enough time to lightly cook it and bring out the green. Immediately shock it to stop the cooking process. Then I will trim the tips off and slice the rest of the stems to add to the soup separately.
This is another one of those soups that is finished by picking it up. Because you don't want to keep egg whites in a soup, or really asparagus for that matter, your add those at the end. Once the broth is made, thickened, and seasoned, you bring it up to heat and slowly pour in the egg whites while stirring. After you've incorporated the whites you add the asparagus pieces and serve it once it's properly heated and re-seasoned at the end.
Ingredients
Crabmeat, claw 1 lb
Cornstarch 1/4 cup
Water 1/4 cup
Asparagus, medium 1 bunch
Scallions 1 bunch
Egg Whites per serving
White pepper 2 T
Coriander, whole 2 T
Rice Wine Vinegar 1/4 cup
Mirin, or other Rice Wine 1/4 cup
Cilantro 1 bunch
Salt to taste
Fish Sauce 2 T
Chicken Stock 4 qt
Garnish
Scallions, asparagus tips
Method of Procedure
Put your chicken stock in a soup pot and add your cilantro (using twine makes it easier to take out), coriander seeds, asparagus roots, and scallion whites then bring to a simmer. Cook for about 2 hours.
While fortifying your broth, blanch your asparagus lightly (you still want a crunch) and shock. Once cooled cut off tips and slice stems (keeping separate), reserve for later.
Strain out the stock and return it to your soup pot minus the additions.
Add fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, Mirin, and white pepper and bring to a simmer.
Season to taste* and make a slurry with your cornstarch and water.
Bring your base to a boil and slowly pour in your slurry while whisking to thicken**.
Add your crab meat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Season to taste. If you want more spice, add white pepper. It is deceptively spicy when used in soups.
To serve bring soup to a boil and slowly add egg whites while stirring (about 1 egg for 4 servings, depending on the size). Add asparagus pieces, season for one more time and serve.
Garnish with chopped scallions and asparagus tips.
*Keep in mind crabmeat is naturally salty, don't add much salt now, you can always add more later, you can't take out what you've put in
**Depending on the thickness of your chicken stock is going to change the amount of slurry needed. You want the soup to be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, or nappe.
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