Steamed Eggs with Silken Tofu and Conpoy

 Hi everyone! Sorry I’ve been posting a lot less lately. Here in Canada when we have beautiful weather, we need to take advantage of it because it’s all over in the blink of an eye. I’ve been trying to spend as much time outdoors with my kiddies as I can. Speaking of kiddies, look what they received in the mail.

Veronica from Quay Po Cooks was sweet enough to send these “yins” to them! She called them yins (Chinese name), but upon googling Chinese hacky sac it lead me to the name Jianzi. I still couldn’t find a proper English name. Oh well, I’ll just stick to Quay Po’s version and call it a yin. Her version sounds better anyways ;-). Sorry, Quay Po, I tried looking for the proper English name for you, but no luck.

Look at the beautiful vibrant colours. As soon as I opened the box, my kids’ eyes lit up. “Mommy, Mommy, what’s that?” To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how to explain it to them. I told them it was a kicking toy. Haha. I know you’re shaking your head right now, Veronica. To be fair though, growing up in Canada most of my life, I had never seen one of these before.

So the next day I took the kiddies and their yins to visit my parents. My Mom and Dad knew exactly what they were right away. Although I don’t think Mom’s teaching them to play it properly in this picture. Haha.

 

As Quay Po stated in this post, “To play the game, we needed to kick this up in the air with one foot and continue kicking as many times as possible without letting it drop on the ground.” Don’t worry, I’m teaching them how to play it properly now, Quay Po.

Quay Po is one of the sweetest bloggers you’ll meet in the blogosphere. We’ve been conversing through email on and off and also stalk one another on twitter and facebook. She has many amazing dishes on her blog. If you haven’t visited her blog, please do so, you won’t be disappointed. Thank you so so much for these lovely gifts, Veronica! My kiddies loved them and are still enjoying them. I’m so touched to have found such a wonderful and sincere friend like you. If ever I visit Malaysia, you’ll be the first person I call up. Another example of how real bloggie friendships are :-D.

Now for a simple recipe. A friend requested this recipe not too long ago on facebook, so this one’s for you dear friend.

When I was a child, my Grandma used to steam eggs for me to eat with rice for a few simple reasons:

1. I was a really picky eater who hated to eat meat, so this was her way of getting some protein into me.

2. It was quick and easy.

3. I liked my food piping hot (and still do).

I absolutely loved that dish because it was so easy to eat and I could eat it for days straight. Now I make a slightly different version with silken tofu and conpoy (dried scallops).

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs
• 1 pack/tube silken tofu (edited to add)
• 3 dried scallops
• 1 to 2 stalks green onions chopped
• half a rice bowl of “scallop water” (water from soaking the scallops)
• 1& 1/2 TB fish sauce

Instructions:

Soak dried scallops in warm water over night. Take scallops of out of the water and chop into very small pieces. Save the water for later use.

Place steamer on stove and turn heat to high.

Slice tofu into 1 inch thick slices and arrange in a shallow dish suitable for steaming.

In a large bowl, crack in eggs and add in all other ingredients including scallop water (except for the tofu).

Give everything a good whisk making sure all ingredients are mixed well together. Pour contents of the bowl into the shallow dish that the tofu was arranged in.

Once the water for the steamer boils, turn heat down to medium high and steam eggs for 5 minutes. This part is crucial —> At the 4 minute mark, check to see that the eggs are not puffing up and keep a constant check on them. If the eggs begin puffing, turn down the heat and continue to cook. Continue to keep an eye on the eggs. Eggs are cooked when you stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean, not liquidy. This should take about 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the intensity and power of your stove.

My family and I enjoyed this with white rice along with some stir fried shrimp and a plate of veggies. This dish is great for kids as it’s healthy and easy to eat. If you’re feeding young children, please allow optimum cooling time as the eggs are piping hot on the inside. Hubby said he could’ve done without the silken tofu, but I liked the addition of the tofu. The option is yours, but I definitely recommend the dried scallops.

I probably won’t be blogging as much as I’m trying to take advantage of the minimal summer-like weather we get here with my kiddies. I’ll try to visit your blogs as much as I can. Before I leave, I also wanted to let you know that I FINALLY put up a recipes page. You’ll find a link at the top on the header. There are a lot of things I want to change with the blog, but now is not the time. Kiddies and family time will always have to come first. Thank you for reading again. I hope you’re all having a wonderful week. Until next time, friends and family :-D.