Chinese Preserved Radish Omelette 菜脯煎蛋

Chinese, recipe, Preserved Radish, egg, Omelette, comfort food, 菜脯煎蛋

This humble Chinese comfort egg dish (EGG PIE!) is a cheat. Actually all Chinese egg dishes are cheats: simple ingredients that are usually on hand anyways, easy peasy and fast to make and most importantly super duper yummy to eat!

For a Chinese style dinner where there are always at least 3 dishes served, an egg dish is a most excellent and efficient choice to include on the menu for a cozy family dinner.

And thus, ta-da! Our latest easy egg dish the Chinese Preserved Radish Omelette 菜脯煎蛋 is a traditional home cooking favorite, so good and so easy to make this egg pie!

The Chinese Preserved Radish Omelette is lovely textured omelette with fluffy fragrant golden egg wrapped around the sweet crunchy preserved radish and accented by tender pungent garlic chives. YUM!

Always gotta have fresh eggs in the fridge. I always get egg-dgy (ha-ha) if there's less than a dozen nestled in the cooler. So that, around dinner time, just when you're thinking 'what should I make tonite?' and you stick your head in the fridge and see...eggs which equals an easy egg dish!

Other easy eggy favorites are Chinese Steamed Egg Custard 蒸蛋 or my personal favorite Tomato Egg Stir Fry 蕃茄炒蛋. A good plus is that kiddos always love these egg dishes!

Chinese preserved radish (or daikon), also known as 'choi poh' 菜脯 gives this egg dish a crunchy sweet saltiness that is the essence of this dish. The daikon is salted and sun dried to chewy crunchy packed with flavor perfection.

This is one preserved vegetable that is almost always found in the Chinese pantry, taken out to be chopped and tossed into noodles, soups or omelettes like this one to add instant umami flavor and texture.

I always like to add a bit of pungent garlic chives 韭菜 to our egg omelettes but this could be substituted with a bit of spring onion or scallions. Or even just omitted entirely. But I like the bit of luscious green and the extra flavor layer the chives provide.

Be sure to buy the the garlic chives without the flower buds. Those with flower buds are more mature and the stalks much harder. You could also use the yellow garlic chives but green makes for a better accent.

The egg's in the pan! Let omelette cook for a bit before adding in the leeks or whatever fresh vegetables you want to use. This way the vegetables won't burn in the time that is needed for the egg omelette to cook enough that you can flip it over.

Flipping the omelette is a bit tricky cuz you have to flip the whole thing over, not just flip half over as for western omelette. After a few fails and weird looking omelette shapes I finally discovered the trick of using two spatula to flip it perfectly.

Or you could get one of these handy dandy omelette/pancake flippers...so cool!

Once the omelette is a lovely golden brown on both sides, take out and let cool a minute or so and then slice the pie. Chinese egg pie for dinner!

Chinese Preserved Radish Omelette
菜脯煎蛋
Prep time: 5 mins Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp water
4 tbsp preserved radish 菜脯, minced
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup garlic chives 韭菜, cut to 1/2" lengths (optional)

Directions:

Lightly beat eggs with salt, water and preserved radish. Heat wok over medium heat. When wok is hot add the oil, then pour egg batter in.

Let cook about 30 secs then sprinkle garlic chives over. When the omelette is a golden brown on the bottom, take two spatulas, carefully lift and flip. Let cook until golden brown.

Remove onto chopping board and slice into 8 wedges. Arrange on plate and serve hot. Enjoy!

Eggilicious recipes at The Hong Kong Cookery: