Geda Tang 疙瘩汤 is a homespun delight from Northern China. Unfortunately, geda (sometimes spelled ge da) suffers from a problem of translation. All over the internet, geda is separately translated as “Chinese gnocchi,” “Chinese spaetzle,” or “Chinese dough knots,” in no small part to avoid the literal translation of geda, which disgustingly means “pimple.” I will note that this affliction of difficult-to-translate dish names is not unique to Chinese food (consider the Italian vermicelli—“little worms”—or British spotted dick) but this is an issue we run into often. Here, my preferred translation is “dough drop,” because in effect, that’s the technique. Warm water is mixed into all purpose flour and dropped into boiling hot soup to form small, hearty dumplings of irregular shape and size, to give simple soups a little bit of substantiality.
The soup in question is a variation of the Chinese favorite: tomato and eggs. It utilizes a technique of building an opaque soup even in the absence of stock from animals or vegetables. Soups are in part flavorful because the aromatics and the savoriness is emulsified into the liquid, meaning that as it cooks, the normally immiscible fats and water all come together. This effect is achieved here by cooking at high heat, thoroughly cooking scrambled eggs, and pouring boiling hot liquid into the pot, thereby causing violent movement of the fats, proteins, and water to eventually emulsify. The tomatoes in the soup balance out the bowl with their sweetness and acidity. It's then garnished with a little cilantro for herbaceousness and chili oil for spice. The result is a deeply satisfying soup that comes together in a matter of minutes.
—Lucas Sin
You can also make a “dry” version of these dumplings—see the variation below. And to see Lucas make both the wet and the dry dumplings, he does both about one minute into his 10-Minute Chinese Tomato & Egg Dough Drop Soup video.
To make dry geda, use the same amount of flour as below (1 cup), but substitute 1 cup of cold water in place of the warm water. Place the flour in a small bowl and the water in another. Using your non-dominant hand, flick some water into the flour bowl. Using a pair of chopsticks, mix the flour bowl and toss until small dumplings are formed. Repeat, drizzling the water directly into the flour and avoiding the formed dumplings as much as possible. Continue until all the flour has been formed into dumplings. If the lumps in the final product are too large or too wet, add some more flour and toss.
Then proceed to step 2 in the recipe below.
Special equipment you'll need:
Slotted spoon, wok strainer, or large-hole colander.
—Food52
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