Steamed Egg Custard

Chinese-style savory egg custard

A couple of weeks back, I needed to find foods that were both soft and nutritious. I ended up making quite a few egg custards, inspired by the really smooth and silky custards you get at dim sum & chinese restaurants. Really simple and comforting.
I first started out with plain custards, then worked up to ones with little add-ins of meat and veggies. (Extra: the Japanese version of these custards is called Chawan Mushi).


Chawan Mushi

They're really simple to make at home and pretty quick too...

Besides being a relatively quick treat, steamed custards are very flexible in terms of ingredients. You can mix in anything from fresh shrimp, minced pork, soaked dried mushrooms, various dried seafoods, etc. Dried shrimp is a popular ingredient, so I decided to use that since I still had some left over from the Red Red.

Have fun and use whatever ingredients suit you...

Savory Steamed Egg Custard

1/4 cup dried shrimp, soaked in about 1/3 cup warm water

~ 3-4 tablespoons shrimp soaking liquid

3 large eggs

3/4 cup chicken stock

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/8 tsp white pepper

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled, finely grated or chopped

2-3 large scallions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Prepare your steamer:

Place a steamer basket or trivet into a large pot or wok. Pour in water just before it reaches the underside of the steamer basket. Cover the pot and put over a high flame to build up heat.

Whisk the eggs, salt, sugar, pepper together with a fork, then beat in the stock. Pass through a strainer.

Mix in the ginger, 2/3 of the chopped scallions, shrimp, and reserved shrimp liquid . Pour into a small, shallow ceramic dish (~ 2-cup capacity), and cover with plastic wrap or a plate.*

(Pour more water into the steamer if necessary) Steam for around 13-15 minutes on medium-high, until set but slightly jiggly.

Garnish with the remaining scallion and drizzle with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

The custard can be served as a side dish or with plain white rice.

* You can also divide the mixture amongst small teacups or ramekins for individual custards



Served with plain white rice.


Enjoy! :o)