Bak chor nng (minced pork with egg)

This has to be my favourite dish since I was a child! It goes way back to the time I was a young child and my grandma would prepare this for our lunch to go with our Teochew porridge. When I was in primary school, I even helped to prepare this by mincing the pork with the cleaver (yes, I was entrusted with the cleaver!), beat the eggs.... all except flavour it since I knew nuts about it then.

Years down the road, this dish hasn't been forgotten by my family and I was reminded to cook it for Alicia only lately when she had it at my mum's and showed her fondness for it as well. I'm pleased not because she shares my tastes but her acceptance of this dish means that she gets the goodness of both egg and minced pork! I've been having problems getting her to eat egg for a long while and this is the only egg dish thus far that she's ok with!

See the little holes I poked in the centre?

They're to check if it's done!

HOT!

Bak chor nng (minced pork with egg)

Makes 1-2 toddler servings (depending on how much your child can eat!)

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons minced pork
• about 1 tablespoon water

Marinate minced pork with:

• 1-2teaspoons oyster sauce
• a couple of drops of dark soy sauce
• a dash of ground black pepper
• a couple of drops of hua diao jiu
• a dash of sesame oil

Method:

1. Add about 1 tablespoon of water to the minced pork. Using your fingertips, run through the mixture to ensure that there are no lumps and no tendons etc.
2. Marinate the minced pork with the seasoning. Set aside for awhile.
3. Crack the egg into the small bowl containing the minced pork and mix well.
4. Steam for 20min.
5. Serve with porridge (ideally) but it's ok with rice too!

No-frills steamed egg

This is a simple home-cooked dish and as the title indicates, it's truly no-frills! :D

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 200ml stock
• 1 bunch scallions (sliced)
• 2 shallots (slice thinly)
• 1/2tsp salt
• ground white pepper
• light soy sauce

Method:

1. Beat the eggs and mix them together with the stock.
2. Add salt and ground white pepper.
3. Sieve the egg mixture twice to get a smooth fluid.
4. Steam the egg mixture on low heat (for about 8min or so), and stand close by to watch the steaming process so that the egg will definitely be smooth.
5. Heat some oil and fry the shallots.
6. Pour a little light soy sauce, the shallot oil and shallots over the steamed egg.
7. Sprinkle the scallions over the dish.

For toddler's consumption:

• Serve steamed egg without the shallots and scallions if your tot is not fond of them.

Preserved radish omelette

This is one of the really classic simple Chinese dishes. As a Teochew (or at least half a Teochew), I have grown up eating fried egg with preserved radish as one of the regular dishes that accompany a bowl of piping hot porridge. And I've always enjoyed it. In fact, I could eat my whole bowl of porridge with just this dish!

Yesterday I ran out of ideas what to cook for dinner and so I decided to go back to basics and just cook something simple. Anyway, hubby has been trying to order this dish from the economical rice stall downstairs so I thought, well, why not just cook it for him? It's so simple and convenient (though not that healthy an option)... I guess it won't hurt to eat it just once in a while right? :)

This time, instead of scrambling the egg, I decided to make it an omelette.


Preserved radish omelette

Ingredients:

• a small handful of preserved radish (chai por)
• 3 small eggs (beaten)

Method:

1. Rinse the preserved radish a few times - till it's not too salty. If it's really salty, you may have to soak it for awhile.
2. Heat the pan (if yours is a non-stick pan, you don't even need oil).
3. Pour in the beaten eggs and swirl the egg in the pan so that there is even distribution of egg.
4. Sprinkle the preserved radish as evenly as you can in the pan.
5. Once the egg is cooked, turn it over and cook the other side.
6. Done!

Steamed variety egg

Before steaming the egg

It's done!

A closer view

This is one of my personal favourites. The first time I ate this dish was when hubby and I were still dating and his mum happened to cook this for one of the dinners when I went over. I fell in love with this dish instantly but it was only after I became a sahm then I learnt to cook this... :)

Steamed Variety Egg

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 salted egg
• 1 century egg
• 100ml water or chicken stock
• a bit of rice vinegar (this makes the egg extra smooth and pretty)
• a bit of oil

Method:

1. Beat the 2 eggs.
2. Wash away the layer covering the century egg and salted egg.
3. Add the salted egg white to the beaten egg mixture. Cut the yolk into bite size pieces.
4. Cut the century egg into bite-size pieces.
5. Add 100ml water and a wee bit of rice vinegar to the egg mixture.
6. Sieve the egg mixture a couple of times till there are no more bubbles (you don't want an ugly dish, do you?).
7. Grease the plate you are gonna use for steaming with a bit of oil so that the egg will not stick later.
8. Place the salted egg yolk and the century egg pieces on the plate.
9. Pour the egg mixture over gently so as to prevent new bubbles from forming.
10. Set to steam on medium heat.
11. Stay by to watch and the moment the egg turns a shade of white, switch to steam on low heat for another about 5 min with the cover slightly open.