hello hi everyone! Wesley here. This is a recipe adding to our series on breakfast foods with one of my favorite Chinese egg dishes of all time, which is a savory steamed egg custard, or “zheng ji dan geng.”A Chinese steamed egg custard is a loose, whisked egg combined with stock that’s gently steamed, and topped with a savory sauce. It can be made with any number of things inside (including shrimp, chicken, veggies, or anything else you can imagine), but my personal favorite is a classic minimalist egg custard, which is what we’re going for today.

While the Chinese Steamed Egg may sound deceptively simple to make, you will find that achieving the perfectly smooth, glass-like texture of a classic steamed egg requires quite a bit of practice to perfect, otherwise the surface of the custard will either buckle, split, wither, or all of the above. This one also has all kinds of nostalgia vibes for me too, cause this was one of those dishes that my mom used to make for me whenever I lost a tooth, since it doesn’t really require any chewing. If you’re looking for new ideas to do for your next Sunday breakfast, I definitely recommend this one. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 eggs

  • 2 green onions

  • 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

  • 1/4 tsp white pepper

  • kosher salt

  • toasted sesame seeds

  • stock

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

  • 4 tbsp soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp brown sugar

  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar

  • 1 tbsp lao gan ma (spicy chili oil)

PREP

  • SLICE the green onions thinly on a bias, set aside

  • SEASON the eggs with a pinch of kosher salt, white pepper, and shaoxing wine, and whisk to combine

  • ADD the egg mixture to a measuring cup, then measure out double of its amount in stock (4 eggs is about 1 cup, so in this case, we are using 2 cups of stock

  • COMBINE the stock with the eggs, then pour into two small heatproof bowls through a fine mesh sieve, and pop any errant air bubbles with a toothpick

  • COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside

  • ON THE STOVE

  • BOIL 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan, then place an upsidedown, heatproof bowl in the pot, and rest the egg mixture on top

  • ADD a dry dish towel over the pan, then COVER and let steam for 8-10 minutes, checking frequently

  • REMOVE and finish with sauce, green onions, and sesame seeds

 

tagged with woo can cook, steamed eggs, chinese eggs, egg custard, chinese steamed egg custard, zheng ji dan geng