A very close friend of mine lamented that she is not used to the food in Hongkong. I totally understand why. For a foreigner, Cantonese cuisine is not an easy cuisine to like. It is oily, it is dirty (they eat EVERYTHING), it is not sophisticated. I thought long and hard about coming up with a sophisticated traditional Cantonese dish, I thought this is a good representation of Cantonese haute cuisine. It brings us back to the basics of always having a pot of chicken stock in the kitchen. At its roots, Cantonese cooking is light, but it is succumbing to the modern taste of having everything fried in extra oil.
This dish, is called Tricoloured Eggs with Amaranth Leaves 三色蛋苋菜 (In Cantonese, 三色蛋荇菜 ‘Saam Sek Daan Hang Choi’). Originally, this dish only used two types of eggs and was called Golden and Silver Eggs with Amaranth Leaves (In Cantonese, 金银蛋荇菜 ‘Saam Sek Daan Hang Choi’). So, if you see either name in a classy Cantonese restaurant, this is it.
If you need more information about the ingredients, I have done articles on each of them before: amaranth leaves, century eggs, salted eggs.
Ingredients:
- 500g amaranth leaves (Use the whole green ones if possible)
- 300ml chicken stock (or 300ml water with 1 tps chicken cube)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 century eggs
- 1 salted duck egg (cook in boiling water for 15 minutes, then allow to cool)
- 1 chicken egg, roughly beaten
- 1 tbs cooking oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Servings: 2 persons
Instructions:
- Wash and dry your amaranth leaves. Break into smaller branches. Leave aside.
- Peel your salted egg and century eggs. Dice them and leave aside.
- Half-fill your wok with water and bring to boil. Cook your amaranth leaves until soft. Put them through a sieve and leave aside.
- Heat your wok on medium heat with some oil. Stir-fry your garlic, then add in your diced salted egg and century eggs. Stir-fry until the salted egg is soft.
- Add in your stock and turn the heat on to high and bring to boil.
- Add in your amaranth leaves and mix well. Add salt to taste.
- Turn off the fire and pour in your chicken egg. Mix it around so that it gets cooked. Now you should have the colours of white, yellow and black among your greens.
- Pour onto a plate, garnish with a dash of pepper and serve piping hot.