Thursday, March 11, 2010

Steamed Savoury Eggs


This is fast becoming a regular weeknight supper and it is fabulous. Simplicity itself, it requires nothing much more than fresh eggs and a well flavoured stock, with a little sesame oil and chopped spring onion for garnish. It's a Chinese staple, a dish of comfort, that is exquisitely delicate in texture with a flavour that matches. You can make many variations, adding shrimp or pork, I'm sure crab would be brilliant, but this most basic version is simply a joy.

Steamed Savoury Eggs
4 eggs
300 ml pork or chicken stock
1 tbspn lard or vegetable oil
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 tspn sesame oil

Whisk the eggs in a heatproof dish till light and foamy.

Warm two thirds of the stock to boiling point. Take it off the heat and add the rest of the stock to cool it down a bit, then whisk it into the eggs with the oil or lard.

Steam in the bowl for 10 minutes.

Garnish with the spring onion and a drizzle of sesame oil.

We've had this a few times in the last month with some cabbage steamed with a little spicy paste and boiled rice. It makes for a lovely pale bowl of food that has all the flavour and texture you need for a quite delightful dinner. And it's great cold next day for lunch.

5 comments:

  1. That sounds quite, quite delicious. I am a great fan of chawan mushi.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I may be only a recent convert but I too have become a great fan! And thank you for telling me it's called chawan mushi...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Bron - entirely inspired by this post I made this tonight - gosh, it really is delicious (even when made with, er, Knorr Touch of Taste stock, ahem - foodie credentials just gone through the floor). The texture is so good! I made it in a deepish metal bowl whereas yours looks like it was in a shallower wider dish so I wondered if I might need to up the steaming time, but 10 mins was perfect. So thank you very much! I can't believe something so easy can be so delicious.

    Fi

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't believe anything can be that gorgeous either. So glad it worked for you.

    Try it with real stock next time - and be prepared to be blown away!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Had this for breakfast this morning with a little shredded chicken (where the stock came from) in the bottom. Delicious indeed.

    ReplyDelete