Puffed fried eggs in five-willow sweet and sour

Ingredientsserves 4

Equipment

• A wok with 2 to 3 cm of oil, and a small dry bowl for each egg
• No thermometer: stand a dry chopstick in the oil; when fine bubbles stream off it at once, it is hot enough
• A slotted spoon, and a rack to drain the eggs on

How the time splits

1. 10 minCrack each egg into its own bowl, cut the pickles, mix the saucehands on
2. 8 minHeat the oil and fry the eggs one at a timehands on
3. 5 minMake the five-willow sauce and pour it overhands on

Method

1. Crack each egg into its own dry bowl, and do not beat them. The bowls must be dry: a single drop of water in hot oil spits. Mix the ketchup, vinegar, sugar and salt with three tablespoons of water for the sauce.
2. Heat the oil to about 180 °C. Plenty of oil and a hot flame are what make the egg puff the moment it goes in.
3. Hold the bowl close to the surface and slide the egg in gently. The white should blister and swell straight away. Spoon oil over the top for about forty seconds, turn it once and fry thirty seconds more, and lift it out when the edges are golden and frilled. Turn it only once and the yolk stays soft. If the egg lies flat on the bottom of the wok and does not bubble, the oil is not hot enough: lift it out and let the oil come back up before the next one.
4. Fry the eggs one at a time and lay them on the plate.
5. Pour off the oil, leaving a tablespoon in the wok, and fry the pickles and chilli for half a minute. Add the sauce, bring it to the boil and thicken it lightly with the cornflour. It should just coat; too much and it sets into a lump.
6. Pour the sauce over the eggs and serve at once.

Take care

• Egg. The yolks are left soft: for anyone pregnant, very young or elderly, fry theirs a minute longer on each side until the yolk is set. Hot oil: keep the bowls and eggs dry. Keep a lid beside the stove: if the oil catches, cover it and turn off the heat, and never use water. Keep children away from the stove while you fry.

The story

The egg of the 茶餐廳 and the street stall, a poor man's sweet and sour, and the cheapest plate on the reunion table, the one the children fight over. 五柳, five willows, is the shape of the pickle, cut into strips like willow leaves, and the name is older than the dish. It is on this wall because of the puff: the egg swells into a flower the moment it meets the oil, frilled at the edge with the yolk still runny. The trick is not hard, but nobody knows it unless somebody showed them.

Same kind

Pork hock braised with dried oysters and peanutsTaro and pork belly, steamed and turned outPoon choi, the walled-village basin

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.