Steamed Three Eggs (Three Colour Egg)

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 3 eggs with pork recipe
See Also:

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
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

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
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.

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
When the egg is just set, turn off the stove. Scatter diced egg toppings over the egg evenly.

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
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.

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
Cover dish with foil. Steam for another 6 minutes (set kitchen timer).

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
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.

Steamed 3 Eggs (Three Colour Egg) Recipe
This dish goes well with rice and extremely well with porridge. The steamed egg reheats well in the microwave if there are leftovers.

Steamed Three Eggs Recipe

This recipe uses cooked salted egg. If using raw salted egg, use only the yolk (diced).

If the chicken stock you are using is not rich enough, you may season to taste with some light soy sauce/fish sauce/salt. You can also replace chicken stock with 100 ml of water + 1 tsp light soy sauce (season to taste).

See the previous page for the steamer set-up and more tips.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggs
  • 100 ml chicken stock (dashi stock)
  • 1 cooked salted duck egg (咸蛋)* diced
  • 1 century egg (皮蛋) diced
  • chopped spring onions for garnishing

* Use half or less of the egg white, to taste, as it is quite salty.

You also need

  • a shallow heat-proof (oven) dish
  • fine sieve
  • aluminium foil

Directions:

  1. Crack eggs in a bowl and lightly beat them with a fork. Run the egg mixture through a fine sieve for 1 to 3 times. Add chicken stock and combine well.
  2. Pour 1 cm thickness of egg mixture to steaming dish. Steam at high heat for about 3 minutes, until the egg is just set. Turn off the stove.
  3. Scatter diced salted egg and century egg evenly over the egg layer. Pour the remaining egg mixture so that it is on the same level as the toppings.
  4. Carefully seal the steaming dish with aluminium foil. Steam at high heat for 6 minutes. Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Noob Cook Tip

Timing may differ slightly according to the thickness of your egg custard and temperature. If undercooked, just put back the foil and continue steaming for a minute or two.