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Cantonese Style Savoury Steamed Egg Custard Recipe

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  • Author: Elina
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes (plus overnight soaking if using)
  • Cook Time: 10-15 minutes total (including steaming and resting time)
  • Total Time: 10 minutes active + overnight soaking or 45 minutes with boiling soak
  • Yield: Serves 2 as a side dish 1x
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Steaming
  • Cuisine: Chinese (Cantonese)

Description

This Cantonese Style Savoury Steamed Egg Custard is a silky, delicate dish featuring eggs steamed with dried scallops and shrimp, infused with savory umami flavors. Served as a side dish, it offers a smooth texture and subtle seafood aroma, perfected through a gentle steaming technique that ensures a custard-like consistency.

Ingredients

Scale

Egg Mixture

  • 2 large eggs
  • About 150ml water (or 1.5 times the volume of the eggs, plus extra as needed)
  • Salt to taste

Seafood

  • 20g dried scallops
  • 20g dried shrimp

Instructions

  1. Prepare the dried seafood: Give the dried scallops and shrimp a quick rinse to remove any surface impurities. Soak them in fresh water in the refrigerator overnight to rehydrate and soften. Alternatively, steep them in boiling water for 30 minutes if short on time.
  2. Arrange the seafood: Set a shallow dish on a steaming rack positioned over boiling water. Gently tease apart the fibers of the dried scallops to loosen them, then lay both the dried shrimp and scallops evenly across the bottom of the dish.
  3. Beat the eggs and prepare the mixture: Bring water to a boil in your steaming vessel. While waiting, beat the two eggs and add the water used for soaking the shrimp and scallops into the eggs. Add extra fresh water if needed until the egg mixture is about double the volume of the eggs. Season the mixture lightly with salt.
  4. Strain and pour the egg mixture: Pour the combined egg mixture through a fine-meshed strainer into a clean bowl to remove any chalaza or clumps, ensuring a smooth custard texture. Then gently pour the strained egg mixture over the dried seafood in the shallow dish.
  5. Steam the custard: Cover the dish with a lid or foil to prevent water condensation from dripping into the custard. Steam over high heat for about 30 seconds until the edges start turning pale yellow.
  6. Finish cooking with residual heat: Turn off the heat after the initial steaming, keep the lid on, and let the custard sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. This gentle carryover cooking allows the custard to set perfectly without becoming tough or bubbly.
  7. Serve: Carefully remove the custard from the steamer and serve immediately as a savory side dish.

Notes

  • Soaking dried seafood overnight yields a deeper flavor, but the quicker boiling method can be used when short on time.
  • Using a fine mesh strainer before steaming is key to achieving a silky-smooth texture.
  • Cover the dish during steaming to avoid water droplets disturbing the custard’s surface.
  • Do not oversteam; carryover heat gently finishes cooking and prevents curdling.
  • This recipe serves two as a side dish but can be easily scaled.

Find it online: https://recipes.mbeams.com/cantonese-style-savoury-steamed-egg-custard-recipe/