Chinese Steamed Eggs with Minced Pork (31g Protein)
Steamed eggs are usually a side dish. Pile a soy-glazed pork topping on and the same silky custard becomes dinner, with 31g of protein per serving. Six eggs and a pound of lean pork split four ways does the math.
This is the dish I make when I want something gentle. It is soft, savory, and spoonable, and the pork topping gives it enough bite that it does not feel like hospital food.
Why this works
Smooth steamed eggs come down to three boring steps that most recipes skip: warm liquid at about 1.5 times the volume of the eggs, straining the mixture, and covering the dish in the steamer. The cover matters more than people think, because the lumpy cratered surface on bad steamed eggs is usually just lid condensation dripping down. Keep the steam gentle and pull the dish while the center still wobbles; it finishes setting on the counter.
Ingredient notes
Stock makes a noticeably more savory custard than water, and the carton kind is fine. Shaoxing wine is worth keeping around for any Chinese pork dish, but dry sherry covers for it, or skip it. Use lean pork rather than extra lean here; a little fat keeps the topping from going pebbly. If you have extra lean in the fridge anyway, it is exactly what my mapo tofu with extra lean pork wants.
Chinese Steamed Eggs with Minced Pork
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk the eggs with the salt, then whisk in the warm stock. Warm, not hot. Hot stock scrambles the eggs, cold stock makes the custard steam unevenly.
- Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a wide heatproof dish. Straining removes the ropey bits of white that would otherwise show up as lumps.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil or a plate. This stops condensation dripping from the steamer lid and pocking the surface.
- Steam over the lowest simmer that still produces steam, 12 to 14 minutes, until just set with a slight wobble in the center. A hard boil curdles the custard into sponge; gentle heat is the entire trick.
- While the eggs steam, heat the oil in a pan over high heat. Add the pork, press it flat, and let it brown undisturbed for 2 minutes before breaking it up.
- Add the garlic, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and sugar to the pork. Cook another 2 minutes until the liquid reduces to a glaze.
- Spoon the pork over the custard, drizzle with sesame oil, and top with scallions. Serve with rice, spooned straight from the dish.
Tips and storage
The pork topping keeps 4 days refrigerated and is good on rice, noodles, or more eggs, so consider doubling it. The custard itself is best fresh but reheats acceptably, covered, at half power in the microwave. If you like eggs in soup form, the egg drop soup with shredded chicken is faster, and sundubu jjigae with prawns gets a whole cracked egg per bowl.
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