Eggs have immense potential to turn up into delicious, satiating and plethora of dishes from a humble scrambled egg to a rich and heavy Spanish omelette. The Cantonese people also truly appreciate and value these protein-laden eggs and love to cook a creamy and mushy dish with eggs and soft shrimps. Famously called Cantonese Scrambled Eggs, these are worldwide famous for the simplicity of cooking, nutrition and being a package of soothing taste coming from the combination of shrimp and eggs. Cooking wine is a key ingredient used in seasoning both eggs and shrimp besides sugar, salt and spring onion included to make this savoury breakfast meal.
The dish comes from the Canton region or Guangzhou of China, after which it is named Cantonese Scrambled Eggs. The original recipe of Cantonese Scrambled Egg has very little salt and no spices added to both eggs and shrimps, and only chives are used as a seasoning. In Western countries, even salt is skipped, as they like to enjoy the dish with the natural taste of shrimp and eggs.
Cooking wine is not the same as regular wine. It is specifically formulated for use in the cooking process, where the wine alcohol content or ABV is about 16 ml of ethyl alcohol in a sample of 100 ml. A large part of this alcohol is burnt while cooking. The acidity of cooking wine helps in achieving tenderness and moistness in quickly-prepared dishes like poached eggs, vegetables and steamed fish.
Here’s the recipe for Cantonese Scrambled Eggs.
Preparation time: 25-30 minutes
Cooking time: 8-10 minutes
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
For marinating prawns:
- 5-6 cleaned shrimps
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cooking wine
- Salt, as per taste
- 2 tbsp oil for frying
For seasoning the eggs:
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cooking wine
- Salt, as per taste
- 1 tsp oil
- 2 tbsps cold water
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onion greens
- 1 tbsp oil for cooking
- Chopped spring onions for garnishing
Method:
- Wash and peel shrimps.
- Marinate the shrimps by adding sugar and cooking wine, and salt to them and leave them to marinate until the eggs are seasoned for cooking.
- In a bowl, break 5 eggs, sugar, cooking wine, oil, and cold water and whip everything with the eggs until they become frothy.
- Then add half of the chopped spring onions to it.
- Heat refined oil in a pan a little, and then add shrimps with a spoon taking care to leave the marinade.
- Fry prawns until they turn orange. Take them out and keep them aside.
- Now, clean the pan, and add 1 tbsp of oil, heat it and add the egg mixture.
- With a spatula, move the cooked part towards the inside and in the centre.
- Do this around the whole of the egg slowly, and then add shrimps to it.
- Continue moving the eggs gradually towards the centre and add spring onions to it. Mix a little and turn off the flame.
- Serve with bread toast.
Points to remember:
- Take care that eggs are at room temperature, so they are nicely coagulated when cooked.
- Sweet added to the naturally sweet shrimps make them softer and caramelised.
- Herbs like chives and coriander and flavourings of one’s own choice can also be added to the recipe.