Scallop, Tofu and Pumpkin Soup with Salty Egg Yolk Paste

Salty egg yolk is very popular recently in Asia. Salty egg yolk crisps, salty egg yolk deep-fried fish skin, salty egg yolk fried chicken, salty egg yolk prawn, almost everything can be salty-egg-yolked.

It takes a bit effort to make salty egg yolk paste home. First you should poach a lot salty duck egg; peel and remove the egg white, it’s a waste but quite difficult to finish such a big amount of egg white; mash the egg yolk; fry the egg yolk in plenty of oil till fragrant; then keep in jar.

Well luckily I bought a jar of salty egg yolk paste at the local fishery and agricultural products fair and regret I only bought one! It isn’t very salty but tastes very nice. Because it’s salty, it’s good to match something sweet. It’s spring now and I figure to make a hearty pumpkin soup with it. This is a super quick soup.

Ingredients –
Pumpkin, 300g;
Silky tofu, 1 box;
Scallop, 4, 150g, replace with shrimp, clam or any seafood you like;
Frozen peas, half cup;
Salty egg yolk paste, 3tbsp;
Cornstarch, 1tbsp.

How to do –
1. Have a taste beforehand to see if it’s too salty;

2. Pumpkin peeled and chopped into small dices; scallop sliced; tofu cut into big chunks;

3. Put in a little olive oil in hot pan, fry the pumpkin till fragrant, then put in 2cups of water, lid on, then cook in high heat for five minutes;

4. The pumpkin should be cooked. Put in the tofu and scallop, lid on and let them cook for 1 minute in high heat;

5. The salty egg yolk paste I bought isn’t too salty. I would put in 3tbsp and no other seasoning. Gently mix well in the soup. Have a taste and adjust with salt or sugar according to your preference;

6. Put in the peas. And I would like to thicken the soup with cornstarch. Dissolve 1tbsp of cornstarch in half cup of water. Put it in the soup and mix well;

7. No need to cover the lid; heat off when the soup is boiling again. Serve right away with steamed rice.