Chinese Steamed Egg with Mushroom 香菇蒸蛋

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There's absolutely nothing better than a silky smooth Chinese egg custard as we've shown our dear readers how to achieve successfully in our post on Chinese steamed eggs 蒸蛋 (click the link!). Today we'te going to talk about a twist on the classic steamed egg that had my hubby and little girl asking for seconds and thirds and finally demanding why I hadn't made more!

The twist? We infuse the intense and fragrant flavors of dried shitake mushroom into our silky smooth egg custard. Wow oh whoppity wow, why haven't I made this before? Chinese Steamed Egg with Mushroom 香菇蒸蛋 is so yummilicious: delicate slippery bites of tender egg custard with delectably flavorful chewy bites of mushroomy mushroom. YUM! And we'll show you how to make it to perfection!

The heart of this dish is eggs of course. We used two eggs this time but, seriously, this was not enough. My family demanded more! Next time I'm going to use four eggs.

Dried shitake mushrooms 冬菇 is a Chinese cuisine pantry staple. Drying the mushroom intensifies its mushroomy flavor to exquisite perfection. These dried mushrooms are used to enhance all kinds of dishes, added to braises and stir fries for that extra delectable mushroomy flavor layer. Everything is better with a bit ‘o shroom, amirite?

Dried shitake mushrooms need to be rehydrated in water. One cool food trick is to reserve the rehydrating water and add it to the braise or whatever you're cooking. More flavor, amirite? We use this trick here and reserve the rehydrating water to add to our eggs. Mushroom power x two!!

Find Chinese dried mushrooms at your nearby Chinese grocery store, wet market, or get some online here.

Here's my lovely 'shroom all plumped up from its water bath and ready to slice. As I've said, these mushroom's flavor is pretty concentrated so you don't need a lot of mushroom. I just used one and that was more than enough.

Here is our reserved mushroom rehydrating water, left, and our whisked eggs, right. The two are combined along with some salt.

Control the tenderness of the custard by adding more or less water. More water makes a more tender custard (our recipe makes a more tender custard.) Less water makes for a more firm custard.

To get a smoother custard pour the mixture through a sieve. It will help get rid of foam and also help break down egg whites completely. Any remaining foam bubbles should be skimmed off with a spoon so that the finished custard is perfectly smooth.

As a last step add the sliced mushrooms evenly all over.

Time to steam! For the Chinese steamed egg this is the make or break moment. Properly done you will have the most incredibly smooth and silky custard. Improperly done you will get something completely else.

Everyone seems to have a different method for this step, so confusing. The one I find most weird is the one where cling film is wrapped over the bowl and steamed along with the egg. Uh, no, please don’t steam with cling wrap, I’m pretty sure that’s not too healthy. But don't worry about all that, we've got a fool proof method that works every time, promise!

And what's this fool proof method? Steam at high heat (counter intuitive, I know) but leave a crack at the lid to let steam out a bit (I just use a chopstick to make the crack). Works like magic! If you use bamboo steamers you're all set to steam away but if using a steel steamer cover your eggs with a plate (as per photo above right) to protect from condensation drips. (Bamboo steamer lids don't drip.)

Okay, I'm really excited to tell y'all that we got a Tatung pot 大同電鍋! Whoopee! You're probably asking why the heck I'm so excited about a rice cooker. Well, that's because this is not just a rice cooker.

I grew up with one of these Tatung pots, the iconic green one. These pots cook not only rice but also can be used to steam and braise! These pots are AWESOME. My grandma used ours to cook all the time. I'm so looking forward to cooking all kinds of delicious food with this Tatung!

The first thing we made with Tatung was steamed rice naturally. It came out perfect. Yes! The next thing of course was our steamed egg with mushroom which also came out perfect. Yeah, Tatung rocks!

However you steam this darn Chinese Steamed Egg with Mushroom 香菇蒸蛋 the end result is an amazing, absolutely smooth and silky, tender mushroom infused steamed egg custard that is absolutely divine in both taste and texture. The ultimate rice killer, just see if your steamed eggs don't disappear like magic within minutes!

Chinese Steamed Egg with Mushroom

香菇蒸蛋

(serves 4) Soaking time: 1 hour Prep time: 3 mins Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

1 big or 2 medium size dried shitake mushroom 冬菇
2 cups + 2 tbsp boiling water
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce (optional)
drizzle of sesame oil (optional)

Directions:

Rehydrate shrooms: Add 2 cups + 2 tbsp boiling water to the dried mushroom. Cover and let rehydrate for 1 hour or so until soft. Squeeze the water out, reserving the rehydrating water. Slice off the mushroom stem and then slice cap into thin slices.

Prepare eggs: Whisk eggs and salt in mixing bowl. Add in reserved mushroom rehydrating water and whisk. Try not to create too many bubbles. Pour thru strainer into the steaming bowl. Use a spatula to push everything thru strainer. Use a spoon to skim off any remaining foam. Add mushroom slices in evenly.

Steaming on the stove: Add water to steamer pot and heat over high heat. When boiling carefully add on the steamer basket* with eggs inside. Add steamer lid on but leave a crack. I just stick a chopstick in between lid and basket. Steam for 20 mins. The eggs should be set but still wiggly is lightly shaken. Drizzle with soy sauce and/or sesame oil if desired. Serve hot and luscious!

*Note that if you use a metal steamer you should cover the eggs dish with a plate before steaming to prevent condensation dripping onto eggs.

Steaming with Tatung 大同電鍋 pot: Add steam plate to pot bottom. Measure water into measure cup that comes with Tatung pots, up to the '6' marked on the side of cup (equiv. to 110ml or 1/2 cup). Pour water into Tatung pot. Place bowl with prepared eggs on top of steam plate. Cover bowl completely with a plate. Place Tatung pot lid on but leave a crack.

Press down on the cook button and approx. 20 mins later the cook button will pop up and your perfectly steamed eggs are done. Drizzle with soy sauce and/or sesame oil if desired. Enjoy yourself some easy eggy love!

Elegant Egg-liciousness at The Hong Kong Cookery: