“Chrysanthemum” eggs

This dish has such a name due to its presentation to resemble the chrysanthemum. Actually, the dish is simply a dish of stuffed eggs. The filling is quite typical and popular in the other dishes I’ve introduced in my blog so far. In fact, fillings for stuffed food are not just boring as such. However, as I am constrained by other circumstances, the availability of ingredients for instance, I only could make pork mixture as fillings for most of the stuffed dishes I’ve cooked up to now. 

Talking about this dish in particular, it is not very complicated. What caused me more time and troubles was the eggs. The eggs were not so good and the yolk was not at the centre of the egg, so when I boiled them and cut into halves, the edges of the halved egg whites were not equally thick, which made it more difficult to cut serrated pattern. So, one suggestion is to use fresh eggs. (I often had to buy 30 eggs at a time and stock them in my pantry, so the eggs might not be fresh). 

After all, we like the dish and, I rarely eat more than one hard-boiled egg at a time, but I did. 

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

- 4 hard-boiled eggs

- 100g ground pork

- 2 or 3 wood ears, soaked to soften, finely chopped

- 1 shallot, finely chopped

- 1 tsp fish sauce

- 200g baby bok choy

- 1 small piece ginger, finely chopped or cut into juliennes

- 2 tsp sesame oil

- 2 tbs soy sauce

- 1 tsp sugar

- 1 tsp Shao Xing wine

- 1 tsp corn starch

- 2 tbs water

Cooking:

-  Half the eggs, mash the yolks and set aside. Cut the egg white halves, with a paring knife, into serrated pattern.

- Combine the ground pork, wood ears, shallot and fish sauce, mix well. Fill the egg white halves with the pork mixture, then place them in a shallow dish and steam until the pork mixture is cooked thoroughly. 

- Wash the bok choy well. Place in a saucepan of boiling water and cook until just done. Arrange the steamed stuffed egg halves on the dish of boiled bok choy. 

- Combine the ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and wine in a small saucepan or frying pan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Place the pan over medium heat and cook the sauce until boiled. 

- Stir the cornstarch in water, then pour into the sauce and cook until thickened. Pour the sauce over bok choy and egg. Sprinkle with mashed egg yolks.