Steamed Egg With Sea Clams (Vongole)

If you have been following me all these 10 years, you would have known me well enough to know that I love any kind of seafood.  Gosh, 10 years...that is like quite a long period of time to be blogging and sharing all the food that I have cooked these 10 years.  Blogging has taken a back seat ever since photography has taken a big portion of my time. For those of you who have been folowing my blogs these 10 years, I would like to say thank you for all your support and patience.  Your supports encourages me and have given me lots of happiness beside cooking and baking :)  My four kids (my Piggies)  and hubby (Wildboar ) are my supporters too.  Giving me a LIKE each time I posted my food photos on Instagram and Facebook :)

I shall not digress and here is what I had cooked for last night dinner.  Saw some very fresh and large sea clams or vongole, I bought home a kilogramme This is a dish that needs only a few clams but needed the broth for the steamed egg.  I steamed the 1 kg of clams and managed to get just 160 ml of broth. thick and sweet .  To make it more tasty , I added a dash of chinese cooking wine, a tsp of ginger juice to the broth .  This is a keeper and will make this dish again for sure.  Simply delicious and appetizing than the normal steamed egg.  Hubby needless to say, make more next time, maybe a pie dish each.  The size of this pie dish is 7inches in dia and 1 1/4 inch deep.  Perfect for this recipe for 2 persons.

 seven steamed clams  to fit this into this pie dish

 make sure to use heat resistant cling wrap

to cover the dish before steaming

 for this recipe, time of steaming under med. heat

is 10 mins...set timer to get the correct smooth texture

love the smooth and wobbly texture and every mouthful

is simply heavenly

Steamed Egg With Vongole

 ingredients:

For broth

1 kg sea clams - soak with salt water to remove mud and sand

7 large sea clams

2 large eggs - beaten

160 ml broth - you can use chicken stock ,but I used the broth from the steamed clams

1 tsp of chinese cooking wine

1 tsp of ginger juice

a pinch of salt - not too much as the broth from the clams has a bit of salty taste

sliced spring onions for garnishing

Method:

1. Soak and wash clean the clams for 30 mins, remove , drained off excess water.  Put the steamer to boil.  Place the clams in a deep dish and steamed for 10 mins or till the clams are half opened.  Take out 7 large sea clams . Drain the broth from the dish into a measuring cup.  The rest of the clams can be kept in a container and keep in fridge for other cooking. 

2. Beat the 2 eggs in a deep bowl.

3. Measure out 160 ml of broth and pour into the beaten egg , add in chinese wine, ginger juice and salt.  Sieve the mixture to get a smooth egg mixture.  Pour the sieved mixture into the 7 inches pie dish, add in the steamed clams and arrange the steamed clams to fit nicely on the egg mixture.  

4. Cling wrap the pie dish and put into the boiling steamer. Reduce heat to medium and steam the egg mixture for 10 mins.  Before lifting out of the steamer, tilt the dish and if the egg custard is firm , you can off heat and take out the dish.  It is ready for serving.

5. Remove cling wrap and garnish with sliced spring onions. 

Enjoy!

Stir Fry And Lightly Braised Hairy Gourd With Dried Shrimps

This is Wild Boar's all time favourite dish. Whenever we eat out at those Chap Fun shop, he will be looking out for this hairy gourd dish.  This is also my mom's signature dish. When I was young, my mom used to cook this for the family. I watched her cook this , I was fascinated by the beautiful color of this dish then.  And I watched every step taken to cook this dish.  My family grew up eating this and I am surprised that Wild Boar loves this dish too.

So today, I will be sharing how to cook this simple and easy and delicious stir fry hairy gourd with dried shrimps. The carrot gives the dish a refreshing and uplifting look.  The vermicelli or glass noodles is a perfect combination to this dish giving texture to the dish.  It absorbs the flavorful taste of dried shrimps , making this dish very sought after by my hubby.  I am happy when he said mine tasted better than the one from the shop.  The one sold has a more soggy texture whereas mine has more texture...reason being it was not overcooked and I added less water and giving it a quick stir fry and lightly braised:)

sauteed garlic and dried shrimps gave this dish

the aroma that makes this dish much sought after by hubby

add less water so that the vermicelli is not soggy

Stir Fry Hairy Gourd With Dried Shrimps - Mom's signature dish

ingredients:

1medium sized hairy gourd - pare off skin and cut into strips1 small carrot - cut into strips
1 small bundle of vermicelli/glass noodles - soak in water till just soft, drain off water

2 tbsp of dried shrimps- wash, clean and soak for 5 mins till soft
3 cloves of garlic- chopped
1 tbsp of rice bran oil

seasoning
a pinch of salt
a shake of white pepper
1 tsp of oyster sauce

1/2 cup of water/ stock

Method:

Heat up wok with 1 tbsp of rice bran oil, when oil is smoking hot, add in chopped garlic and dried shrimps and sauted till fragrant.  Add in the carrot and hairy gourd strips and continue to stir fry tillthey soften slightly, Add in soften vermicelli/glass noodles and give a quick stir, add in water/stock and seasoning and give it 6 mins braise under medium heat till water has evaporate a bit. Dish up and serve with piping hot  rice.

Enjoy !