I’ve grown up with this Chinese dish and it’s been my best comfort food ever. The eggs are steamed until just about firm, but the texture of the eggs is still soft and silky smooth. This dish, is the most traditional form of all, where only water is added to the eggs as compared to using vegetable or chicken stocks nowadays. I have attempted to make this dish several times, but to no avail. Each time, it resulted in a honeycomb-like texture. It definitely requires a certain technique to produce a silky smooth egg (which I am still mastering), however, I am surely impressed with today’s outcome. This was the first time, hubby said he loved how smooth and tasty this dish is, even before I asked for his opinion.
This silky smooth dish is also one of the super friendly dish for baby and children. Because of how soft and delicious this dish can be, there were times when I was younger, I would just mix the steamed eggs onto the hot steamy rice and eat them without any other dishes.
Steamed Eggs/Steamed Water Eggs (蒸水蛋) Recipe
Serves: 1 pax / Prep Time: 10 mins / Cook Time: 15 mins / Level of Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- 2 medium farm eggs
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms (thinly sliced)
- 0.5 tsp. fresh scallion (finely chopped)
- 0.5 tsp. salt
- Water*
- 3 tbsp. liquid from soaked mushroom
* Ratio of eggs to water is 1:2
Instructions
- Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms for 15 minutes in a bowl by adding hot boiling water. Once the mushrooms have doubled in size, squeeze out the excess water with your hands. Discard the stem and finely sliced the mushrooms. Set aside. Strain the liquid and use in egg mixture later.
- Crack 2 eggs in a measuring cup and take note of the volume. Now, add in the water to the eggs along with the liquid from the soaked mushroom. Transfer the eggs into a medium bowl and add salt to it. Gently whisk the eggs (over-whisked eggs will form more bubbles on the surface). Set aside for 10 minutes (noticed that the bubbles on the surface will reduce in numbers after a period of time).
- Subsequently, remove the bubbles with a spoon (this method requires some technique as you may unintentionally throw away some egg juice together with the bubble) or alternatively, you can use a fine mesh strainer to strain the bubbles.
- Gently add in the sliced mushrooms and fresh scallion.
- Fill a wok with water and place the stainless steel steamer rack into it.
- Once the water boils, set the heat to low. Gently place the beaten eggs dish onto the rack and covered it with a lid or aluminium foil. Steamed the eggs for 15 minutes on low heat.
- Insert a chopstick into the egg and if it’s clear, it’s done. Serve immediately.
NOTES:
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