Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to Chinese comfort food classics with a fun variation on two different dishes that we've actually done on this channel already, the first being the classic "mapo tofu" braised pork with tofu, and the second being a Chinese steamed egg dish known as "zheng dan" or literally, steamed egg. Now to be absolutely honest, I don't think I have ever actually seen this particular combination of things in my 36 years of eating Chinese food, but conceptually it does seem to have solid foundation in Chinese cuisine. Zheng dan or steamed egg is literally as it's described, a whisked egg seasoned lightly with shaoxing wine and white pepper, then gently steamed for a mildly savory quality.
From my experience, I've always remembered this steamed egg dish from my childhood as something that I ate whenever I was sick, because it's incredibly bland, and carries the lowest possible risk of upsetting your stomach. Because. Well, it literally tastes like nothing. So! When I came across this particular iteration of zheng dan floating around the internet that combines the dish with a braised ground pork on top, I figured, this is gonna be way better, cause you know. It's actually gonna taste like something. For our version today in particular we'll be combining our egg with a crushed tofu. By incorporating this tofu into the egg, this means that the second half of our dish will literally just be our mapo tofu, but assembled in a wildly different manner, which I think is really fascinating. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
3 green onions
8 oz ground pork
1 lb (1 block) firm tofu
2 tbsp corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in water)
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (steamed egg)
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
pinch kosher salt
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 1 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp corn starch
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 1 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp doubanjiang
1 tbsp chili crisp oil
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
MINCE the ginger, set aside
DIVIDE the green onions by whites and greens, then slice thinly
COMBINE the ground pork with all marinade ingredients, then let marinate for 30 minutes
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
WHISK the eggs together with remaining steamed egg ingredients, then combine with the tofu and crush by hand until smooth
DIVIDE the egg into two heatproof bowls, set aside
ON THE STOVE
ADD the egg to a steam basket in a pot of boiling water, then cover and let steam for 10 minutes until set
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic, ginger, and whites of the green onions then saute for 15 seconds until fragrant
ADD the ground pork and saute for 2-3 minutes until cooked through
ADD the sauce mixture plus a quarter cup of water and corn starch slurry, then toss until a thickened sauce forms
FINISH with greens of green onions, then serve over steamed egg with rice