Chinese Style Corn Soup Recipe- Without Eggs

This past week has been a very busy one in my house, foraging so many different things, shopping a for frugal groceries, doing a lot of cooking from scratch, and even being filmed by a film student for a "day in the life of" documentary for her documentary making class.
With this film student, I went to the market and while there, got an insane amount of produce for very little. It was 55 lbs of produce for 20 dollars, and that included some great things, like dragon fruit, baby greens, fresh basil, lots of fruit, and a whole lot of ears of corn on the cob. I'm a big fan of corn on the cob, and was so excited about them, since I rarely see them for a price I like, so I don't buy it much.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my kids aren't big fans of corn on the cob (but enjoy it just fine off the cob), so after cooking up the lot for dinner, I had quite a bit left over.

I decided to whip up a batch of Chinese restaurant style corn soup, using that corn on the cob and chicken broth (made from my free chicken frames) as the base. I looked at a few different recipes for inspiration, but most had egg in it, which I don't eat, or used canned corn and creamed corn, or just seemed rather bland, so this recipe is entirely my own. If you don't have corn on the cob to use for this recipe, I'm sure it will work just as well with frozen corn or canned corn. Instead of grating the corn, put 1 cup of corn in the food processor instead of grating the two ears.
I used a large amount of ginger and black pepper to give it extra oomph, but feel free to use less ginger and leave out the pepper if you want less bold of a flavor.
While I haven't tried making this vegan, I am sure it would also work fine using vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.

Chinese Style Corn Soup Recipe- Without Eggs

Ingredients:
5-6 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon oil of choice
1 medium or large onion
1 cup chopped corn
2 corn on the cob grated
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten free soy sauce to keep this gluten free)
1/2-1 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
2 heaping tablespoons potato starch, corn starch, or tapioca starch (optional, but it makes it creamier)
1 pinch turmeric (optional- it adds color, not so much flavor)
Scallions/green onions in each bowl (optional but strongly preferable)

Instructions:
1. Chop up an onion (dice it or in rings, it doesn't matter) and saute in oil until lightly browning. Add minced garlic and saute until very slightly browned.

2. Grate two ears of corn (I used leftover cooked corn, but I'm sure it will work just as fine with raw corn, perhaps even better). Cut corn off the cob until you have one cup (approximately 2-3 ears), and add that, the grated corn, and the chicken broth into the pot with your sauted onions and garlic.

3. Add soy sauce and ginger and black pepper, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes (or longer if using raw corn).

4. If desired, place 1/3-1/2 of the pot of soup into a food processor or blender to make it creamier, and then mix it with the rest.

5. Remove 1/2 cup of soup from the pot and let it come down to room temperature. Add the starch and mix well, then return to the pot and cook until thickened.

6. If desired, add a pinch of turmeric to make the soup a slightly more yellowish color.

7. Serve hot, adding a decent amount of chopped green onions/scallions, onion greens, or chives into each bowl before serving.

Enjoy!

Is your family a fan of corn or corn on the cob in general? What is your favorite thing to make with leftover corn?
Have you ever had corn soup, either at home or in Chinese restaurants? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?