Egg dumplings

Name: Egg dumplings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Cantonese
Ingredients: Chicken egg (hard-boiled) 4; Pork mince 150 g; Spring onion / scallion 2; Water chestnut 3; Light soy sauce 1 tsp; Sugar ½ tsp; Cornflour 1 tsp; Sesame oil ½ tsp; Salt a pinch; Cooking oil 3 tbsp

煎蛋角

Pan-friedEggWeeknightKids like itGood reheatedMediumhands-on 20 min · start to finish 35 min

“Fried golden. The children’s favourite.”

Ingredientsserves 4

街市Chicken egg (hard-boiled)· large, about 220 g in all4

街市Pork mince· fatty, not lean150 g

街市Spring onion / scallion· finely chopped2

街市Water chestnut· peeled and chopped, optional3

雜貨舖Light soy sauce· for the pork1 tsp

雜貨舖Sugar· for the pork½ tsp

雜貨舖Cornflour· cornflour, for the pork1 tsp

雜貨舖Sesame oil· for the pork½ tsp

雜貨舖Salt· for the eggsa pinch

雜貨舖Cooking oil· a teaspoon into the eggs, the rest for the pan3 tbsp

Method

Mix the pork with the soy, sugar, cornflour, a pinch of white pepper, the sesame oil and a tablespoon of water, stirring in one direction until it turns sticky; fold in the spring onion and water chestnut and rest it fifteen minutes.
Beat the eggs lightly with a pinch of salt, not to a foam; Hong Kong cooks add a teaspoon of oil so the skins do not stick.
Wipe a flat pan with a thin film of oil and heat it on low to medium. Ladle in about a tablespoon of egg and tilt the pan into a thin round eight to nine centimetres across.
While the top is still wet, drop a teaspoon of pork filling onto one half.
Fold the other half over the filling with the spatula and press the edge so the wet egg glues it shut. Do not rush: the skin has to be set enough to lift and wet enough to seal.
Turn each parcel once and fry on low for two to three minutes a side until the pork is cooked through; or put all the parcels back in the pan with two tablespoons of water and a lid for three minutes. Cut one open: the centre of the filling must show no pink.
Serve as they are, or simmer them briefly in a little stock with dried shiitake for the New Year gold-ingot soup.

Take care

Contains egg; the soy contains soy and wheat; the sesame oil is sesame. The pork must be cooked through, which is the whole point of the low heat and the lid; cut one open and check the centre shows no pink.

The story

Egg dumplings are the Cantonese and Hakka home cook's dumpling, an egg skin standing in for the dough; the fold is the fun part, which is why it is one of the first dishes Hong Kong children are taught to help with, and HK01 calls it a twenty-minute weeknight standby. The half-moon is read as a gold ingot, so the same parcel turns up in New Year soups on both the Cantonese and the Shanghainese table.

Same technique

Pan-fried dace fish cakes

Stuffed peppers, eggplant and tofu

Sweet and sour pork

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.