TRIPLE TREASURE CANTONESE STEAMED EGG

When I was a pre-teen and needed to make a quick dinner for my family since my parents were working, I would whip up this silky Cantonese steamed egg dish in a few minutes.  I had not made this comfort food dish for decades for my family until recently when my daughter was home.  Her immediate reaction was, "this egg is dank !" For those not familiar with millennial slang,  it means "excellent"! (I had to look that up!)  I knew loved it because she wanted me to give her a detailed recipe and asked me to make it almost every night.  I also made it for my other daughter and she loved it too so it's definitely a recipe worth sharing.

I love sharing recipes, but I also want the recipes to be universal so that it can be successrully made no matter the country, the egg size and the unit of measurement.

Tips for making Silky Cantonese Steamed Egg

Eggs

For this recipe, I have experimented so that the size and quantity of the eggs do not matter as long as the ratios are correct.  Water and its temperature is the key to creating the creamy consistency, both in the mixture and out of the mixture. The egg is diluted with very warm water to thin out the egg mixture and the eggs are also steamed so the temperature is warm enough to barely cook and not toughen the eggs.

When breaking and mixing the egg with water, do not whisk the egg.  This creates bubbles in the egg which affects the texture of the steamed egg, making it not smooth and silky.  Either use a whisk or two forks to stir and break the eggs. 

Salted duck egg

Salted duck eggs can be found in Asian grocery stores or online.  These eggs are salty and have a unique texture.  To avoid the entire steamed egg from having a "gritty" texture from this salted duck egg, avoid mashing the egg yolk, but genty coarse dice the egg and sprinkle it into the rest of the egg mixture.  The contrast between the smooth texture of the chicken eggs and the coarseness of the salted duck eggs should be balanced.  The ratio should be one salted duck egg to four chicken eggs.

Salted duck eggs are difficult to peel.  A tip to save time is to crack the egg shell and break it in half. Once the interior is exposed, use a spoon to scoop along the edge of the shell to remove the egg.  The egg will not be completely intact, but this doesn't matter as the egg will be coarse chopped.  

Preserved duck egg

Preserve duck eggs can be found in Asian grocery stores or online.  These eggs have a unique taste.  Some people absolutely love them while for others, these eggs may be a tad too exotic for their taste buds!

This preserved duck egg will be used as a garnish so you can use as many as you like. Coarsely dice the egg and sprinkle on the top before serving.

Water

The fail-proof way to make this silky Cantonese steamed egg recipe is to use the correct amount of water.  After much trial and error, the best way to make this recipe is to measure the egg by volume.  This allows flexibility in the recipe.  The egg to water ratio is 1 to .75 or 1 to 1, depending on how you like your eggs. Two large eggs usually yields about half a cup of egg mixture.  Add enough water to get to three quarters of a cup and maybe one cup if you like the egg somewhat jiggly.  I prefer the texture of the egg to be more like silken tofu so I usually opt for a 1 to .75 egg to water ratio.

The water temperature that dilutes the eggs also affects the ease of dispersion and blending.  The water should be very warm to the touch but not too hot that it cooks the egg.  A fail-proof way of getting the correct temperature is to combine a 1 to 1 ratio of boiling water and iced water or 1 to .75 of boiling water and ice.

Seasoning

This is a simple homestyle Cantonese steamed egg dish and the only seasonings used are salt, a dash of pepper, sherry or similar alcohol (mirin) that is optional that goes into the egg mixture before its cooked.  It is then seasoned with soy-sauce, sugar, sesame oil, more sherry and chopped scallions or chives as a topping.

Steaming the eggs

I've tried microwaving this recipe and the eggs, although cooked and smooth, tend to be slightly rubbery.  The best is to steam the eggs, because it doesn't take that much longer than microwaving and the end product is so much better! When steaming the eggs, place a plastic wrap over the egg mixture to prevent the steam from dripping back into the eggs which creates "holes" on the surface of the egg.  

Adding the seasoning

Combine the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl before pouring it onto the steamed egg.  Cut the egg into squares or diamonds so that the sauce can infuse throughout the steamed egg. Sprinkle with chopped scallion or chives and add the sauce. Enjoy!

You can combine the sauce with the scallions in a bowl if you do not like the strong taste of scallions.  The salt extracts some of the sharp flavor of the scallions, resulting in a more subtle onion flavor.