Apologies for the lack of post last week- it's the first week I've
missed since starting the blog and I've been feeling guilty about it all
week...well, not too guilty considering I spent a lovely weekend in
Cambridge basking in the sun eating scones (they most certainly don't
count as bread..right? Oh gawd, maybe I now have two things to be guilty
about)
However, it did give me time to take
a step back from the blog and see I hadn't done a traditional recipe
from Hong Kong for a while. And although this dish might not be a
regular on menus, it definitely was at Mama Lo's house. A traditional
home-style one dish wonder, it is super cheap to make and feasible for
both breakfast and dinner times (so twice the reason to make this!).
Whilst most of my friends were tucking into fish fingers and chips for
tea, I'd be requesting this comforting bowl of plain rice and steamed
egg to place in my hands and chow down on in front of watching the
Flintstones or Wacky Races on TV (and thus, giving myself away as a
classic child of the 80's). Similar to the consistency of panna cotta,
it is an unbelievably smooth texture, which breaks off like a delicate
tofu piece (and with more punchy flavour too). It almost creates its own
sauce as its so good to eat with rice on its own. It totally dominates
scrambled eggs any day, and if you're looking for something different to
your normal omelette, scrambled, poached eggs rut, look no further.
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| XO-llent sauce for royalty: scallops, prawns and chilli |
For
this recipe, I've added on top a great (optional) sauce called 'XO
sauce' to elevate this into a full meal - which, to the Chinese, is the
GOD of sauces. It's a sort of prestigious condiment, which is more a
mini meal in itself. It is a spicy seafood sauce made from prawns,
scallops and ham - and originates from HK restaurants in the 80's. The
reason why it's called XO - is from XO cognac. However, there isn't a
single drop of the stuff in there, it just denotes how 'prestigious' and
high end this sauce is, as it would only be served in restaurants of
the highest standards. It's relatively cheap to buy in jars in China
town, but I definitely would try making your own.
The
egg 'custard' calls for this wondrous seasoning known Maggi sauce -
it's a true underdog of Asian seasoning (maybe given its origins are
actually from Switzerland), but if you don't have this it's not the end
of the world.
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| One Happy Meal please |
