Yin yang xian cai (double eggs Chinese spinach)

I first had this dish in a restaurant and they called it “yin yang xian cai” meaning dark and bright chinese spinach. Apparently the century egg represents dark and the salted egg is bright. It was so delicious I had to try cooking it at home and here is my humble version

Salted eggs (咸蛋) are made by soaking eggs in brine, or packing each egg in damp, salted charcoal giving it its salty flavour. Normally duck eggs are used to make the salted eggs. From the salt curing process, the salted duck eggs have a briny aroma, a gelatin-like egg white and a firm-textured round yolk that is bright orange-red in color. Please note that duck eggs are very high in cholesterol and the salt curing process increases the sodium content of the eggs. Excessive intake of salted eggs can raise cholesterol and blood pressure levels thereby increasing the risks for heart disease, stroke and other major health problems. In order to limit salt and cholesterol intake when eating salted duck eggs it is important to pair it with low salt or cholesterol-free ingredients such as vegetables and to consume salted eggs in moderation.

Ingredients

1 bundle local spinach (bayam in Malay, 苋菜 xian cai in Chinese, heng cai in Hokkien and yin choy in Cantonese)

1 hard boiled salted egg

1 century egg

200 mls chicken stock

Separate the leaves from the stems

Soak the leaves in rice water for 5 minutes

This vegetable has a lot of sand so need to be washed several times

Cut the eggs into small pieces

Put the chicken stock in a wok and bring to boil

Add salt and pepper to taste

Put in the bayam

Stir to mix well

Take the bayam out of the wok and place in a serving platter

Decorate the vegetables with the ready cut eggs

Pour the stock from the wok onto the vegetables and serve

Handy tip

How to remove the damp charcoal without dirtying your fingers and nails

Put the egg into a small plastic bag

Hold the plastic bag and rub the charcoal off

Almost done

Take the egg out and wash it once all the charcoal is removed

If you like eating bayam but don’t want the high cholesterol and salt contents of the century and salted eggs then you can try plain fried with garlic.

Peel the garlic

Heat up some oil and fry the garlic until slightly brown and fragrant

Remove the garlic and keep aside

Put in the bayam and mix well with the oil

When the bayam is soft, make a well in the middle

Put salt and pepper into the well and stir the bayam into it

This way the vegetable will be evenly coated with the salt

Put the fried garlic back and mix well

Add a little if it looks too dry

Dish up and serve