Huevo Con Un Toque

October 22, 2020

"Huevo con un toqu / Egg with a twist"

It's time for another cooking recipe. It's been quite a long time since I made a recipe article.

Almost every day we are eating eggs for our breakfast and other meals. The common egg recipes we usually eat are sunny-side-up, boiled, poached, and scrambled eggs. Eggs are very nutritious. It is packed with an amazing range of brain nutrients and antioxidants and it is called "nature's multivitamin." The egg nutrients are enough to make a fertilized cell into an entire baby chicken.

And for your information, the egg yolk contains a lot of nutrients such as high-quality proteins, vitamins, minerals, good fats, and several other lesser-known nutrients, but the eggwhite contains only protein. A large piece of the egg contains 77 calories, including 6 grams of quality protein, 5 grams of fat, and trace amounts of carbohydrates, as well as 212 mg of good cholesterol.

They are truly nutritious and perfect food for breakfast, however, there are times that we already are fed up eating the same kind of egg recipe each meal. And that is why I want to share this simple yet yummy egg recipe. It is called "Steamed Century-Salted Egg Recipe." This is one of the traditional Chinese recipes.

Cooking materials:

• Large wok (for steaming)

• Steaming rod

• Steaming dish

• Large bowl (for mixing the eggs and chicken broth)

• Cling wrap (for wrapping the steaming dish)

• Eggbeater or fork (for beating the eggs)

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces Japanese Eggs (you can use any kind of egg available at your kitchen)

• Century egg

• Salted egg

• Chicken broth

Preparations:

1. Remove the shells of the century egg and salted egg yolk and cut it into small pieces. (Set aside the salted egg white for later use)

1. Beat the eggs in a small bowl.

1. Transfer it into a big bowl.

1. Measure 1 cup chicken broth and mix it with the beaten egg. (The proportion is 1 bowl of eggs is to 1 bowl of chicken broth)

1. Add the salted egg white. Stir to mix it well. (This will serve as the seasoning for the egg mixture)

2. Using a sieve, transfer and sift the egg mixture into a steaming dish. (This procedure will help remove the lumps making the steam egg smooth)

1. Mix the sliced century and salted egg yolk.

1. Cover the dish with cling wrap to avoid dropping of water from the wok's lid into it. This will also help to make the top of the steam egg look smooth.

2. Boil water in a big wok and steam the mixture for 10-15 minutes. (The steaming time will be depending on the amount of the egg mixture you are steaming)

1. After 10-15 minutes, remove the dish from the wok and set aside. Let it cool before cutting and serving.

And this is the final result. Taddaa!!
This is not a dessert, it's a viand. 😊
It looks like an egg pie 🥧 but chicken 🍗 flavor😅

I like the combination flavor of century egg, salted egg, and chicken broth. It is tasty and the mixture is so smooth. You guys should try this!

For those who don't have chicken broth, you can use plain water. All you need to do is to season it with soy sauce, salt, or any seasoning according to your taste preference. Others just pour soy sauce on top of the steam egg before serving.

Health Facts:

One large egg contains:

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin): 9% of the RDA
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): 15% of the RDA
Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid): 7% of the RDA
Selenium: 22% of the RDA
Eggs also contain small amounts of almost every vitamin and mineral required by the human body, including calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, manganese, vitamin E, folate, and many more.

Other health benefits:

• It improves cholesterol level but no risk for heart disease.

• It is loaded with choline which is important for our brain.

• It contains high-quality protein with a perfect amino acid.

• It is loaded with lutein and zeaxanthin, which serves as our eye's protection.

• It is also helpful in losing body fat. (Some use egg as part of their keto-diet)

Take Note: (All eggs aren't the same)

It’s important to know that all eggs aren't equally created.

Some hens are raised in factories. They are being caged and feed with grain-based that changes the final composition of their egg's nutrients. It is recommended to buy omega-3 enriched or pasteurized eggs, which are healthier. But for those who cannot afford to buy pasteurized eggs which are quite pricey, conventional supermarket eggs are still a good choice.

Century Egg and Salted Egg Facts:

Century eggs are also known as: 
preserved egg, 
hundred-year egg, 
thousand-year egg, 
thousand-year-old egg, 
millennium egg,
skin egg,
and a black egg.

It is a Chinese preserved food product and delicacy made using the traditional method: preserving duck, chicken, or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, salt, ash, rice hulls, and quicklime for several weeks to months. And modern method: soaking raw eggs in a solution of table salt, sodium carbonate, and calcium hydroxide for ten days wrapped in plastic, followed by several weeks of curing.

The yolk turns into a dark green to grey color, with a creamy density and strong flavor because of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia present, meanwhile, the white becomes a dark brown and translucent jelly with a salty flavor. It can be eaten without any preparation other than peeling and rinsing them. You can eat it on their own or serve as a side dish. [¹]

Century eggs in Taiwan are commonly sliced and placed on top of cold tofu with katsuobushi, sesame oil, and soy sauce, in a similar style to Japanese hiyayakko. 

The century eggs cut into chunks can also be used in stir-fried vegetables, which is commonly used in Taiwanese cuisine.

In Hong Kong and other Chinese countries, they cut century eggs into small chunks and cook them with rice porridge which they called "century egg and lean pork congee."

Meanwhile, salted duck egg is another Chinese preserved food product made by soaking duck eggs in brine, or packing each egg in damp, salted charcoal. 

In the Philippines, salted eggs undergo a similar curing method but with some differences in the choices of ingredients. Salted eggs are dyed red to differentiate them from fresh duck eggs.

The Pateros method is a popular method for processing salted eggs in the Philippines. The Pateros style is prepared by mixing clay (from anthills or termite mounds), table salt, and water in the ratio of 1:1:2 until the mixture becomes smooth and creates a thick texture. [²]

Century egg and salted egg are indeed a perfect combo. They added amazing taste to your dishes. You can also make your own style salted egg at home. I remember when I was in Primary 6, our teacher taught us to make salted eggs by just mixing clay, salt, and water, the same process as Pateros style. Then we dig a hole in our school garden and placed the clay-wrapped eggs into it. After a week, we took them out and cooked them. The result was quite good, it wasn't that salty, and I liked it.

Written by: @Jane

Sources:

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salted_duck_egg


Do you want more egg recipes with a twist? That would be my next article. 😊