This home-style comfort food classic takes just 5 ingredients. Make a silky smooth egg custard with a clean, savoury taste that goes great with white rice.
Time: 2/5
No marination, almost no prep, and eggs cook super fast.
Effort: 3/5
Dealing with the eggs is a bit finicky, but nothing too crazy.
Slurp and Slide
This Cantonese-style savoury steamed egg custard is one of those home-style comfort foods that are part of the core curriculum of every Chinese mom. Just like the classic Tomato and Egg stir fry, this is one of those dishes with a deceptive simplicity that can stand as a love language all on its own.
You might have heard of Japanese Chawanmushi, which is a very similar concept. Essentially, both recipes involve diluting eggs with a flavourful liquid to create a silky smooth texture. That’s not surprising, because Chinese and Japanese cuisine has been cross-pollinating for centuries. There’s an entire category of Japanese food called Chuka Riyori that literally means “Chinese Food” – that’s where you find signature dishes like ramen, gyoza, and pepper beef.
I digress. The Cantonese version of savoury egg custard is called 蒸水蛋 (jing-seoi-daan). The three characters literally mean Steam-Water-Egg, which is both the list of ingredients and the instructions. Pretty handy!
One of the things that set Cantonese steamed water eggs apart from similar recipes is the endeavour to get that glassy, smooth, almost mirror-like surface. As you’d expect with a home style dish like this, every mom has their own tricks.
Almost every household filters the raw egg custard before steaming to get the bubbles out. Some put clingfilm over the mixture to stop steam condensing against the inside of the lid from dripping down and disturbing the surface. Yet others swear by steaming the eggs with the lid slightly ajar, to let off the excess steam so it doesn’t condense in the first place.
The way I learned it is a bit unconventional. I pour the custard into an already hot dish, and let it steam over a rolling boil for about 30 seconds. Just enough to set the surface and see the colour change. Then I shut off the heat and let the entire thing coast gently to the perfect doneness on the residual heat alone. That way, there isn’t any new energy being added to the hot water so there just isn’t that much steam to condense on the lid and drip down.
Another way which steamed water eggs differ from house to house is what gives it the umami. Dried seafood, like I use here, is a popular choice. It’s a source of delicate, subtle savouriness that is prized in Cantonese cooking. They’re the star ingredient in other dishes like my glass noodle and hairy gourd stir fry, or my 5-ingredient Napa cabbage soup.
The amount of dried scallops and shrimp that you see me use is quite a bit more than you strictly need (you can easily halve my amount and still get an amazing result). It has the effect of turning the water I use to rehydrate them into a super savoury liqueur that, of course, goes right into the eggs. There’s so much umami going on that all it needs is a tiny pinch of salt to round out the flavour.
But there are plenty of other choices and variations that you can make. Ground pork is a common ingredient as well, and it’s not unheard of to have a base of fresh clams, or shelled crab meat, under the egg custard. The general rule is that you want something that adds flavour without overpowering the eggs, so keep your additions modest.
Whichever way you make it, steamed eggs are best enjoyed over some white Jasmine rice. Be sure to serve it with other dishes as part of a dinner spread, because they are literally mostly water and are not very substantial on their own. I made an abalone stir fry to go with it that turned out really well. However, the silky texture and the clean umami flavour is sure to take the entire meal up a notch.
Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 0
Dramatis Personae
Served two, as a side dish.
- 2 large eggs
- 20g dried scallops
- 20g dried shrimp
- About 150ml water, or 1.5 times the volume of the eggs
- Salt to taste
Executive summary
- Give the dried scallops and shrimp a quick rinse, then soak in fresh water in the fridge overnight (alternatively, steep in boiling water for 30 minutes)
- Set a shallow dish on a steaming rack over water. Tease apart the fibers of the dried scallop. Lay the dried seafood on the bottom of a shallow dish.
- Bring water to a boil. In the meantime, beat two eggs with the shrimp and scallop water. Add extra water if needed, to double the volume of the eggs.
- Pour the egg mixture through a fine meshed strainer, then pour the strained egg mixture into the dish over the dried seafood.
- Cover and steam on high heat for 30 seconds, or until the egg mixture changes colour to a pale yellow. Keep the lid on, shut off the heat, and leave it alone for 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately afterwards.
Play by Play
Last things first. You can soak the dried seafood overnight in the fridge, or with hot water for an hour or so if you’re in a hurry. I start cooking by getting the dried seafood into the dish, then bringing the water up to a boil. I want the dish to be hot when the eggs go in, and the dried seafood need a bit of a head start to soften up.
On to the eggs. Whisk in the dried seafood water, adding water to roughly double or triple the volume of the eggs. Then pass the mixture through a strainer to get rid of the bubbles to get us that smooth, glassy surface.
By this time the water has come to a boil, the steaming dish is warmed through, and the dried seafood has had their head start. Transfer the egg mixture carefully into the dish, put on the lid, then watch it like a hawk – once the surface turns from dark yellow to pale yellow, shut the heat off and let it coast.
10 minutes with the residual heat, or a bit more if your egg mixture is thicker/deeper. I had a bit too much filling, so you see some of it poking out. Feel free to halve the dried seafood.
I’m going to break my own rule of serving the egg immediately, since I want to use the same dishwasher safe pan to make the abalone stir fry I’m serving this with. Looks great, tastes better.
And dinner is served! Get yourself a spoon and dig in.
The best way to enjoy Cantonese style water steamed eggs is over rice. If you get the texture right, it’s slurped not chewed. Bon appetit!
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