Chinese Steamed Egg with Minced Pork

I've been meaning to make this dish for a while, as it's a favourite I remember from my childhood. This weekend I decided it was time. Minced pork and mushroom were common in the dish, mixed in with the silky savoury custard. It can be quite difficult to get the consistency right and without bubbles on top - I failed on the bubble front but I'm not sure it makes such a difference. It was perfect served with just rice and curly kale, stir-fried with ginger, garlic, chilli and oyster sauce. It makes for a really light and refreshing meal and for me, is great comfort food.

Chinese Steamed Egg with Minced Pork & Mushrooms

For 2

2 eggs
5 dried shiitake mushrooms
160gr minced pork
1" ginger, minced
1 spring onion
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1/2 tsp cornflour
Toasted sesame oil



In a bowl, pour 200mls of boiling water over the shiitake mushrooms. Leave for 1/2 an hour. Meanwhile, add the ginger to the pork with the soy sauce, rice wine, cornflour and white pepper. Chop the white part of the spring onion finely and slice the mushrooms, add to the pork and leave to marinate for 20 minutes. Fry in a non stick pan or wok until just cooked. Add to a bowl to put in the steamer.

In a bowl, whisk the two eggs with the cooled 200ml of the water from the rehydrated mushrooms. Pass the egg mixture through a sieve into the bowl of the pork mince. Cover with a foil lid and steam on the lowest heat until cooked. Mine took about 20 minutes and I had to keep checking to see if it had set.

The mushroom water makes the custard juicy and smooth, as well as giving it a good hit of umami. You can really add what you like to it - salted eggs are common, as well as dried shrimp or carrot.