Things to do with eggs

garylkoh

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Sep 6, 2010
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I love eggs - there's just something wholesome about the taste and texture when it's done right. So, here are some things I like to do with eggs - from the simple to the sublime.

The "perfect" Singapore kopi-tiam soft boiled egg
In a small 1/2 quart tall pot, add 4 cups of water, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of white vinegar. Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat.
Put 2 free-range brown eggs in (first warm the eggs to room temperature if you store them in the fridge) *slowly* using a slotted spoon.
Exactly 3 minutes later, take the eggs out with the slotted spoon and put them in a mug. Take the pot off the burner and fill the mug with the water. Leave to stand for about 1 minute. (These times need to be extended if you live in the mountains.)

Crack the eggs into a warmed bowl, a couple of dashes of ground white (not black) pepper and a dash of dark soya sauce. (Dark soya sauce is very different from the usual soya sauce you get at Chinese restaurants. For one, it is far, far less salty. It is also much more viscous, the best are almost as thick as honey.)



A fluffy omelet
Take two free range brown eggs (ducks eggs if you can find them), separate the yolks and the whites.
Using a hand beater, first beat the whites until airy and fluffy. Be careful not to turn them stiff like meringue.
With a hand whisk, whisk the yolks to get air into them with two drops of white truffle oil and a little heavy cream.

Heat a small non-stick fry pan over low-medium heat and melt a some butter. Let it heat a little, but do not brown the butter. Pour the yolks and then the whites into the pan and mix with a wooden spoon until set and fluffy.

Serve on a plate. Sprinkle a small pinch of coarse sel gris on top and eat with a fork. The crunch of salt is surprising and makes the dish unique!

Malaysian Deep Fried Egg
Heat up a wok on high-heat, and fill the bottom with at least 1/2inch (12mm) of peanut oil. I like using peanut oil for the flavour as well as its high smoke point.
Break two eggs into a bowl - be careful you don't break the yolks.
Slide the eggs from the bowl into the hot oil. It will spit and splatter. Using a "wok chang" (an Asian-type turner that has a deep dish) spoon hot oil all over the eggs and the whites will crisp and bubble.
http://www.oxo.com/p-589-nylon-asian-turner.aspx
2 minutes is about right to have the middle of the yolks still a bit runny.

Pick the eggs out of the wok with tongs and serve on a plate with a few dribbles of dark soya sauce and a dash of white pepper.

The Chawamushi
Here's something that tastes sublime, but is easy enough for a 7 year old to do.

Chawamushi..jpg

Break 3 eggs into a mixing bowl. Using a single bamboo chopstick, stir the eggs until the yolks and whites are integrated. Do not beat or whisk as we do not want any air in the eggs.

For 3 jumbo eggs, you will need 2 cups of dashi stock. You can use powder or pre-made stock, but I like to boil my own using bonito flakes. To the dashi stock, add a tablespoon of takara mirin, a teaspoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of Kikoman soya sauce.

Ingredients..jpg

Get 5 Japanese tea cups with lids. Into each cup, put a small sliver of raw chicken, a shelled and de-veined prawn (shrimp), a slice of fresh shiitake mushroom, a piece of crabstick, and two Chinese celery leaves. Before you put the leaves in, roll the leaves between your thumb and forefinger to bruise the leaves for the flavor to come out.

Now here's the trick to get exquisite silkiness:

Pour in cups..jpg

Using a small sieve or tea strainer, strain the egg/dashi mixture into each tea cup. Do not fill the cup more than 3/4 full.

Steam each cup covered for 11 minutes.

Enjoy!

Enjoy..jpg
 

amirm

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Wow, great write-up Gary. My problem with eggs are my wife! :D She doesn't want to have anything to do with them unless they are cooked, cooked and then, cooked some more! The thought of runny eggs of any sort makes her run away.

I am going to try some of these recipes.

BTW, any luck in making other Malay dishes at home? We go to Malay Satay Hut here and really enjoy the food. But when we looked for Malaysian cookbooks we only found one. And what we made out of it didn't come out well.
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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www.genesisloudspeakers.com

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com

Thank you, Vincent. I would never have thought to sous vide eggs.

The Singapore kopi-tiams (coffee shops) found the way to do it by not boiling the eggs for the full 4 min, but taking them out at 3min, and then using a ceramic mug and the hot water. I've never measured the temperature, but that might have been their way to lower the temp to 80 deg. I think that the salt and vinegar added also raised the boiling temperature so that you get a nice "crust" of hard-boiled egg next to the shell. The beauty of that recipe is in the different textures you get from the runny yolks to the soft whites and the hard whites.
 

amirm

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Hi Amir, the Malay Satay Hut is OK, not good.
Having never gone to Malaysia and only eaten at that only place, you can appreciate why I thought it was good :).

Thanks. There is a crazy listing there. The one guy selling the used one wants $114 or the book!!!

But if there's anything specific you want, let me know and I'll start a thread on South East Asian cooking.
Would love to see more recipes there. We have the most difficulty replicating Asian recipes at home. It is as if there is a conspiracy against against home cooking as nothing tastes like restaurant food.

Anyway, one simply item is Roti bread. Malay Hut serves it up for dunking into their curry which we all love. We tried to make it out of our one cookbook and came out horrible. Ironically, we just got some frozen type from Uwajimaya that is Japanese and it actually comes pretty close to Roti. But would love to know the authentic version that can be made at home.

Next would be the Singapore noodle dish. I have had two versions that are good. One is with thin noodles with yellow type of curry flavor. The other was at Malay Hut with fat wide noodles.

Or maybe, just post some popular stir-fry or curries from the area. I find their take on these quite nice and distinct while similar to Indian/Chinese.
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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Having never gone to Malaysia and only eaten at that only place, you can appreciate why I thought it was good :).

If you haven't been to Malaysia/Singapore, the Malay Satay Hut is pretty good.

Thanks. There is a crazy listing there. The one guy selling the used one wants $114 or the book!!!

I guess because it is out of print, and Mrs Leong is a legendary cook in Singapore. The re-print done after she passed away is cheaper, but I don't know if it has all the same recipes.
http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Favo...r_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301517418&sr=1-15

Would love to see more recipes there. We have the most difficulty replicating Asian recipes at home. It is as if there is a conspiracy against against home cooking as nothing tastes like restaurant food.

If you knew all their secrets, you wouldn't go to the restaurants :D But really the problem is that many of the Asian cookbooks aren't well written - or they "forget" things.

Anyway, one simply item is Roti bread. Malay Hut serves it up for dunking into their curry which we all love. We tried to make it out of our one cookbook and came out horrible. Ironically, we just got some frozen type from Uwajimaya that is Japanese and it actually comes pretty close to Roti. But would love to know the authentic version that can be made at home.

I'm not sure which one this is - "roti" is bread in Malay. Is this the flat, white ones with a flaky texture? If it is, then it is the Singapore/Malaysian version of an Indian bread called Roti Paratha. It is difficult to make as it takes years to perfect the tossing technique.


Next would be the Singapore noodle dish. I have had two versions that are good. One is with thin noodles with yellow type of curry flavor. The other was at Malay Hut with fat wide noodles.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as Singapore noodle.

Or maybe, just post some popular stir-fry or curries from the area. I find their take on these quite nice and distinct while similar to Indian/Chinese.

OK. I'll post a few of my favorite recipes. Then, when my wife's friends want my recipes they can come here :)
 

amirm

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Yes, it was Roti Canai. Thanks for the video. Interesting to see how they create the layers that make it flaky.

I have been to Singapore but it was for a one day visit. The food there was fantastic. I thought though there is a difference between that cuisine and Malaysian. No?
 

garylkoh

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Yes, it was Roti Canai. Thanks for the video. Interesting to see how they create the layers that make it flaky.

We buy the frozen version at 99 Ranch in Renton. They taste pretty authentic. The trick is to "slap" it after frying so fluff them up.

I have been to Singapore but it was for a one day visit. The food there was fantastic. I thought though there is a difference between that cuisine and Malaysian. No?

For Singaporeans and Malaysians - there is even a difference between Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Johore Bahru food :D

Otherwise, Singapore and Malaysian cuisine is essentially the same.
 

garylkoh

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Sep 6, 2010
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Yum! Thanks, flez.

This is another great egg dish that can done many ways. Using the same recipe, instead of chorizo, I've substituted Pacific NW hot-smoked salmon or bacalao, for a fishy version and even Chinese char siew.
 

microstrip

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Some people use large cardboard egg containers as acoustical treatment - a local choral group who had to play their rehearsals temporally in an empty warehouse managed to damp its large flutter echo with great success very cheaply. I will try to know what they did with eggs! :rolleyes:
 

amirm

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That's what's great about WBF. We talk about the egg carton in one breath, and what used to be in it in the next. :D
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
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I do paintings with egg and my own found natural pigments.

Talking about eggs and pigs - another of my favorite egg dishes is hard-boiled eggs in soya sauce pork stew.



For most people, the star of this dish is the stewed pork, but to me, it's the eggs.

For the pork stew:

2lbs pork belly pork skin on cut into 1" chunks
8 cups water
2 star anise
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
2 entire bulbs garlic
2 pieces ginger about the size of your thumb
1/2 cup good dark soya sauce

First, blanch the pork in boiling water. Then, put all the above ingredients into a large pot and simmer for 40mins. Do not boil.

Separately, hard boil 6 eggs. After they are cooked, crack the shells by rolling them on a hard surface. Put the eggs into the stew for another 10 mins to 6 hours with the fire on but as slow as possible. Even lower than a simmer.
 

flez007

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Aug 31, 2010
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Some people use large cardboard egg containers as acoustical treatment - a local choral group who had to play their rehearsals temporally in an empty warehouse managed to damp its large flutter echo with great success very cheaply. I will try to know what they did with eggs! :rolleyes:

I tried that as a teenager in my own room (I had a Sansui amp, Technics deck and table and Ohm speakers)... I created a mess trying to glue those cardboards to the walls.... Not to mention painting them!
 

mullard88

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Jun 5, 2010
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Hi garylkoh,

My dad loves to eat eggs. May I ask which kopi-tiam restaurants in Singapore are among the best place for the soft boiled eggs?
 

mullard88

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Jun 5, 2010
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Hi flez007,

That picture of huevos roti looks very appetizing. I will have to visit one the spanish restaurants soon.
 

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