Century egg porridge is a very popular hawker fare in Singapore.
This is a type of preserved egg. In mandarin, it is known as pi dan which roughly translates as "leather egg". This could be because of its colour. See the plate of quartered egg below? That's how a pi dan looks like. Brown egg white with greyish yolk.
The egg white is like firm jelly and is tasteless while the egg yolk is creamy.
source: irrational cat at flickr
Some say it has a sulphurous smell. I had very little encounter with sulphur, so I can't say. To me, it does not have a strong smell.
Many people do not like the taste as it can be quite strong. Alex of Justcookit.blogspot.com wrote a controversial post of his first encounter with it. If you need a good chuckle, head on over.
I have probably acquired a taste for it because I can eat it on its own with just some preserved ginger.
It is also commonly added to steamed egg custard and of course, in congee.
I suggest brave newbies try it in very small pieces and never on its own. Eat it with lots of congee.(^__^)
Recipe No.1
Ingredients2 century eggs
225g lean pork
8 cups of plain rice porridge
1 fried dough (you tiao) (optional)
1 tbsp sliced ginger
1 tbsp chopped spring onion
1 sprig of coriander
Seasonings
Pinch of pepper
1 1/3 tbsp salt
dash of sesame seed oil
Directions
- Remove the shell of the egg and cut into small cubes
- Marinate the lean pork with 1 tbsp of salt
- Cut the fried dough into small pieces
- Cook 8 cups of plain rice porridge
- Add the egg, lean pork, ginger and the seasonings
- Cook a further 5 minutes
- Serve with the fried dough, coriander, and spring onion
Recipe No.2
Ingredients150g pork belly
2 century eggs
1 piece of fried dough (you tiao) (optional)
1 stalk of spring onion
1 cup of rice
7 cups of soup stock
salt and pepper
1 tsp sesame seed oil
Marinate for the pork
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
Directions
- Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes
- Place rice in a pot and add the soup stock
- Bring it to a boil and lower heat to a simmer and cook till done
- Cut the fried dough into small bite-sized pieces
- Cut the pork belly into strips, add the marinate for the pork belly and leave to stand for 5 minutes
- Deshell the eggs and cut into small cubes
- Wash and chop the spring onions
- Add the pork belly to the porridge and cook till done
- Add the egg, fried dough, salt, pepper and sesame seed oil before serving
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Bizarre food?
I was quite surprised by the fuss surrounding this very old egg. It is interesting to note that it is considered a bizarre food in many parts of the world.
I saw a few youtube videos of people trying it for the first time. I knew they were going to gag because most of them took a huge bite which would obviously be overpowering. Would anyone consider taking a huge bite out of a piece of blue cheese? I don't think so.
It took me a while to find this, but I thought it might be nice to end this article with a youtube video that has a good ending.
Here is the guy from So You Don't Have To eating a pork and century egg congee.
In a previous video, he ate the egg right out of the box and nearly died.
Another interesting tidbit about the century egg is the snowflake-like patterns that sometimes appear on the egg white. It used to fascinate me when I was a child.
The next time you eat a century egg, try looking closely for these patterns.
