Pork Meatball Soup with Egg Tofu

June 3, 2023

Pork Meatball Soup with Egg Tofu © kvalifood.com

A mild, comforting Thai soup that shows up regularly at family dinners across Thailand. Called “bland soup” (tom jeud) not because it lacks flavour, but because it relies on good stock, fried garlic, and white pepper instead of the bold herbs found in other Thai soups. The “meatballs” aren’t rolled into neat spheres - you just drop spoonfuls of seasoned pork straight into the broth. Serves 4, about 15 minutes plus time to make stock.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Soup

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
Vegetable oil, as needed
8 ¼ dl pork stock
1 l napa cabbage, bite-sized pieces
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper, ground
250 g egg tofu, cut into 1 ½ cm slices
Salt, as needed
1 green onion, chopped
½ dl cilantro, chopped

Pork meatballs

250 g ground pork
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar, granulated
1/4 tsp white pepper, ground

Directions

Start by making fried garlic. Place the chopped garlic in a small pot with just enough oil to almost cover it. Fry over low heat until all pieces are golden. Drain the garlic from the oil, reserving both the garlic and the oil separately. Be careful not to let it over-brown or it will taste bitter.

Mix all the meatball ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Bring the pork stock to a boil in a medium pot. Drop the pork mixture into the soup by the spoonful - don’t worry about making them round. Add the napa cabbage, soy sauce, fish sauce, and white pepper. Simmer for a few minutes until the pork is cooked through and the cabbage is tender.

Add the egg tofu slices and cook for another minute to heat them through. Taste and add salt as needed.

Remove from heat and stir in the green onion and cilantro. Ladle into bowls, drizzle some garlic oil over each serving, and top with fried garlic.

Notes

The quality of the stock makes or breaks this soup. Don’t use weak stock or plain water - the simplicity of the dish means the stock has nowhere to hide.
Egg tofu has a similar texture to soft tofu but is made from eggs, yellower and saltier. It usually comes in a clear plastic tube at Asian grocery stores. Regular soft tofu or 1 oz of glass noodles work as substitutes.
If you have extra fried garlic and garlic oil, save them - they’re good drizzled over almost any dish.
Serve on its own or with jasmine rice as part of a larger Thai meal.