Egg, Bacon & Cheese Flan

Okay, it's actually not a flan. It's egg dish dressed up to look like a flan. :P

It's another variation of the usual egg and bacon/ham that we like for breakfast. Except this version is less oily. You can have it as it is or serve it with bread, as a sandwich.

Ingredients:

• 3 slice Streaky Bacon
• 2 Eggs
• 2-3 tablespoon Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Butter
• Sprinkle of Dried Parsley
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

How to do it:

1. Spread butter around an oven proof dish.
2. Cut streaky bacon into smaller piece.
3. Either scatter around or lay around the side of oven proof dish.
4. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 15 minutes.
5. Remove and crack 2 eggs into dish.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
8. Place oven proof dish in a tray.
9. Fill water in the tray to reach 2/3 of the dish.
10. Continue to bake for 15 minutes or till egg is set.
11. Remove and serve immediately.

Note:

• It is better to bake the egg in water. It is to prevent the egg from becoming tough and rubbery.
• You can use ham instead of bacon. If using ham, it's not necessary to bake it first.
• Go easy with the salt as bacon and cheese are used here.

Nitamago aka Lava Egg Part 2

In my last post on Lava Egg aka Nitamago, I mentioned that I'll be sharing how I 'colour' my lava eggs.

This is very much like the Chinese braised egg 蓾蛋 except you don't cook the eggs in the marinade cos you want to retain the runny egg yolk and not to harden it. You just keep the egg in the marinade and let the marinade slowly do its work.

I have only marinated the egg you see here for 3 hours. If you want the brown hue to penetrate more into the egg white, you have to keep the egg in the marinade for at least a day.

Marinade for 2 Lava eggs:

• 5 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 3 tablespoon Water
• 3 tablespoon Mirin
• 2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 1/5 teaspoon Superior Dark Soy Sauce (optional)

How to do it:

1. Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer.
2. Once sugar has melted, let the marinade cool completely.
3. Place 2 lava eggs in a zip-loc bag and carefully pour the marinade into it.
4. Carefully squeeze all the air in the zip-loc bag out (ie, no air pockets) so the eggs will be completely in marinade.
5. Marinate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
6. To serve, drain eggs from marinade and cut into half.

Note:

• If you have problem squeezing out the air of the zip-loc bag, just let it be. You just need to shake/turn the eggs occasionally so the eggs will be evenly coated and tinted with the marinade.
• If you marinate the eggs overnight in the fridge, bring out of the fridge at least 1/2 hour before serving so it will not be too cold. Unless you don't mind eating cold eggs.
• I paired it with Shoyu based Ramen.

Lava Egg Part 1

Last week, Astin, a diner left a message in my chat box asking if I could share how to make hard boiled egg but with a soft york.

Some might see this egg served in some Japanese Ramen Restaurant. Some restaurants call this lava egg.  It does looks like oozing lava. ;)  It's commonly known as ni-tamago anyway.

I know of one restaurant that charges S$1.50 for an egg!! After reading this, you won't be paying even 50cents for it. :P Buy a dozen eggs and make it at home yourself instead.

It's not as difficult as you thought it might be. The important thing to it is timing. Here's what I did.

60g refrigerated eggs, ie, cold eggs, are used here. Boil a pot of water enough to cover the eggs. Reduce heat so that the water is just bubbling. This is important as you do not want the eggs to 'jump' in the process and get cracked. Use a spoon to place the eggs into the bubbling water carefully. Let them cook for 7 minutes, uncovered.

Prepare a bowl of ice water. Remove the eggs immediately and plunge in the ice-cold water. This helps to stop cooking. Remove after a minute and gently tap the shell with a spoon. Carefully remove the shells and cut it open to see the results. Voila! Your $1.50 lava egg! Well, not exactly. You need to season and 'colour' it first, which I will share in my next post. ;)

In the meantime, enjoy your plain S$1.00 lava egg. :)

Caramelized Pork Rib 焦糖排骨

This one of my all-time favourite. My husband said it looks like the Roasted Ribs 红烧排骨 that one of the stalls sells in the coffeeshop at my place. ;)

I have made this less dry and without the 'burn' bits we all like. It's with a coating of sweet caramelized sweet sauce instead.

Ingredients:

• 700g Meaty Pork Ribs, slightly fatty preferred
• Sesame Seeds, optional

Marinade:

• 5 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 4 tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 3 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 2 tablespoon Apple Cider
• 2 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 40ml Water 

How to do it:

1. Place ribs in a deep baking dish with the marinade.
2. Cover with foil and bake at 190C for 1 1/2 hours.
3. Bast with sauce in-between baking.
4. Remove ribs and place on a rack. Retain sauce.
5. Bast generously with the sauce and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Repeat twice.
7. Sprinkle roasted sesame seed and serve immediately.

Note:
I cut the slab of rib individually. You can cook using the whole slab of ribs instead if you like.

French Bean with Salted Egg Yolk 四季豆炒咸蛋黄

This is my husband and my favourite dish and we will always order this if it's available when we dine out.  However, it super sinful for it's high cholesterol from the salted egg yolks.

If you are not afraid of the high cholesterol, try this. You can either sliced the french beans or leave it as it is. And if you prefer to be able to bite into bigger bits of the salted yolks, you can chop it instead of smashing with a folk

Ingredients:

• 500g French Bean, top and tips removed
• 2 Salted Egg Yolk
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Sliced the french bean diagonally or leave it as it is.
2. Steam the salted egg yolk till cooked.
3. Smash the yolks.
4. Heat oil in wok.
5. Stir fry french beans till just cooked. You'll see the colour of the french beans changed to a deeper green.
6. Stir in the smashed egg yolks.
7. Toss to mix well.
8. Add salt to taste.
9. Dish and serve.

Note:

• I cook the whole salted eggs, like how to do hard boiled eggs.  I remove the yolk from the hard boiled salted egg. I find it less messy this way.
• If you want it more creamy, switch step 5 and step 6. Add 2 tablespoon Evaporated Milk and stir in the smashed egg yolks. After which your return the cooked french bean to toss well.