Steamed Three Eggs (Three Colour Egg)

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This Chinese-style steamed three eggs aka three colour eggs (三色蛋)  is a homely egg dish made with fresh hen’s eggs, preserved century egg and preserved salted egg. It is salty, savoury and it will surely whet your appetite if it had been poor. I love to enjoy this with porridge. If done right, the egg has a smooth texture just like chawanmushi. The egg mixture require little (just water and soy sauce) or no seasonings (if using chicken stock which I did) since the preserved eggs toppings are already salty.

Similar Recipe:

• Steamed Three Eggs with Pork (above)

See Also:

• Steamed Egg with Minced Pork Recipe
• Easy Egg Recipes

Doesn’t the tri-colour egg toppings look like precious gems? See the step-by-step photos below on how to make these “jewels” appear on the egg surface for better presentation.

STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS

In a shallow dish, cook a thin egg layer.

Note: This is the traditional set up for steaming over the stove (not electric steamer). It consists of a wok with a 3-legged metal trivet. Add water in the wok (do not let the water touch the base of the dish). When the water is boiling, add the dish to the steamer rack. Put the lid on the wok (not shown in the pictures) during the entire steaming duration.

When the egg is just set, turn off the stove. Scatter diced egg toppings over the egg evenly.

Pour remaining egg mixture until it is same level as the toppings.

Note: If you don’t mind that the toppings will be buried, you don’t have to cook the bottom layer first. Just scatter the diced egg in the casserole and pour the egg mixture over.

Cover dish with foil. Steam for another 6 minutes (set kitchen timer).

If the timing is just right, you get a silky smooth egg custard without the unsightly pock-marks and the egg will also not stick to the walls of the casserole.

This dish goes well with rice and extremely well with porridge. The steamed egg reheats well in the microwave if there are leftovers.