May 22, 2014

Spinach with Gold & Silver Eggs 金银蛋菠菜

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Here is a delightfully tasty and easy eggy vegetable dish that you can make quick as a flash.  I guess that more properly this dish should be called Spinach with salted and preserved duck eggs.  But the direct translation from the Chinese name,  金银蛋菠菜, is so evocative with the Gold, or 金, being the bits of salted egg yolk of course and the Silver, or 银, being the bits of the preserved eggs.  

Though, rightly speaking, the preserved eggs are more of a black greenish color.  But the Chinese like to categorize their food into romantic, grand tangents which I find extremely delightful if rather inaccurate.  So we will go with the direct translation from Chinese :  Spinach with Gold & Silver Eggs it is!

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The proper classic vegetable to use in this Silver and Gold Egg dish is actually not spinach but yin choy, or 莧菜.  This is a very delightfully soft, tender and flavorful vegetable when you can get it.  If not, just use spinach.  They clean and cook in the same way.

You can of course buy both salted duck eggs and preserved thousand year eggs at your local wet market in Hong Kong or even at your grocery store.  Hong Kong grocery stores didn't use to carry this kind of stuff on a regular basis, goodness only knows why, but recently (finally!) they have been stocking these eggs as a regular item in the refrigerator section next to chicken eggs.  But if you have the time and the inclination I would advise making a trip to your local wet market where you are much more likely to find some really good eggs.  

For good buying tips for thousand year preserved eggs see our previous post on Thousand Year Eggs 皮蛋.  For salted eggs we would actually recommend that you make your own for the best flavor and taste!  See our post on Chinese Salted Duck Egg 鹹鴨蛋 where we show you how easy it is to make your own salted duck eggs.
Spinach with Gold & Silver Eggs  Recipe
金银蛋菠菜
(Prep time: 5 mins  Cook time: 10 mins)

Ingredients:


Directions:

Soak spinach in at least three changes of water to get rid of the dirt.  If large, chop spinach in half.  Boil salted egg for 10 minutes.  When cooled, peel and dice the salted egg.  Clean, peel and dice the preserved egg.

In a medium high hot wok add 2 tbsp of oil.  Add in minced garlic and stir for a few seconds until fragrant.  Add your spinach, being careful of oil splatters.  Stir fry the spinach a minute or so until limp but still bright green.  Remove to a plate.

Add stock, salted egg, preserved egg and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a shimmer and let cook for 2 minutes or until the eggs start disintegrating.  Add white pepper and taste.  Add salt if needed.  (Most likely not needed as the salted duck egg is quite salty already.)  In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp water with potato starch, stir and pour into the stock, stirring until the sauce is thick and clingy.  Add in your spinach, give it a mix and serve hot.

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4 comments:

  1. Just made this recipe - absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Appreciate this post. Will try it out.

    ReplyDelete