Chinese Spinach with Three Eggs (三蛋菜） - The Burning Kitchen (2024)

Chinese Spinach withthree eggs (namely century egg, salted duck egg and fresh chicken egg) is a popular dish in Chinese restaurants. But did you know that theoriginal vegetable used was Dog’s Teeth?Dog’s Teeth(狗齿 / gou chi), is named as such because the leaves of this vegetable resemble dog canine teeth. Over time, this dish evolved and Chinese Spinach has become the favoured vegetable because ithas avery softer, more tender texture after cooking.This is a very healthy dish as little oil is used and the light soupy gravy goes perfectly with plain whiterice.

If you are cooking this dish, you can choose to use either Chinese Round Spinach (苋菜 xian cai / heng cai / yin choy) or Chinese Sharp Spinach (look at the leaf shape to tell which is which). I useRound Spinach because itprovides a smoother, more tender texture.

Just don’t mix it up with Phuay Leng, which is a different! Alternatively, youcan also substitute Round Spinach for Milk Cabbage (奶白 / nai bai) or Wolfberry Leaves (枸杞 / gou qi / kau kee).

The eggs are the ingredients that give this Chinese Spinach with three eggs dish its distinctive flavour, so make sure that you choose fresh eggs for best results! Look below at the tips to find out how to choose fresh century eggs and salted duck eggs.

• It’s a healthy dish as very little oil is used in the dish, and there’s lots of vitamins and protein in the dish!
• The different eggs used in the dish gives it a lot of different flavours!You can taste the unique taste of the century egg, together with the saltiness of the salted egg and the bitterness of the spinach!

Wash the ikan bilis and drain dry

Add 1 TBsp of oil to the wok, then add the ginger and fry until fragrant, then add the ikan bilis and fry for 2 mins until fragrant.

Pour in 500 ml of boiling water and le the mixture simmer for 15-20 mins under low heat, then sieve the ikan bilis stock.

For the salted egg, Remove any black mud from the egg and wash thoroughly.

In another small pot, lower salted eggs into boiling water with ladle, and boil for 10-15 mins under medium heat, then allow to cool. Once cooled, remove the shell.

For the century egg, remove the husky clay and wash, then remove the shell.

Cut the salted egg and century egg into small cubes and set aside for later use.

Crack 2 chicken eggs into a bowl. Seperate out the egg yolks from the egg whites and beat lightly.

Separate the spinach leaves from the stems, then remove the fibrous skin of the stem as much as possible.

add salt to a basin of water to wash the leaves and stems seperately, then wash with water 2-3 times and drain.

Add the ikan bilis stock to the wok and bring it to a boil over medium heat.

add the spinach stems and cook for about 2 mins, then add the spinach leaves and continue co*king for another 4 mins, or until soft.

add 1/2 tsp of sesame oil.

transfer the spinach into a dish, leaving the stock in the wok.

When stock boils, add the salted egg and cook for about 1 min, then add the century egg and give it a gentle stir, being careful not to break up any egg cubes

1. Buy pre-cooked fresh salted eggs and century eggsto save time. I usually prefer to buy them from the wet market as they areusually very fresh. You can also find them at your local supermarket, but the inventory turnover tends tobe lower, so check the eggs to make sure they are fresh.
2. Use chicken bonesto make the soup base if you are allergic to ikan bilis.
3. Wolfberries can also be added to enhance the flavour of this dish.

1. Remove all leaves that are inedible, with worm holes, rotting parts, and little black or yellow dots.
2. It’s ok to cook spinach for a slightly longer time, unlike vegetables like chye sim or kailan. To test if the spinach is cooked, use the spatula to cut the stem to see if it breaks easily.
3. Don’t discard the ikan bilis after sieving the stock, you can boil it one more time (but adding less water the second round) to make additional stock to freeze for next time.
4. Do not soak the vegetables in the salt water.Otherwise, it will be very salty.
5. Do not soak any vegetable in the water for too long becauseit will absorb the water, which will be released during the cooking process, flooding the whole wok. Most of the vitamins in the vegetables will also be lost during prolonged soaking.

1. For century egg, make sure you choose those where the brown outer coating looks slightly damp, like the photo below.
2. Likewise for the salted duck egg, the black mud layer should look slightly moist and not dried up and cracked.

Salted duck eggs are notoriously hard to peel when its cooked. How do you peel them?

• Use a knife to crack the egg into half then use a metal spoon to scoop out the egg.It’s a faster way with much less wastage. See the video below for a demonstration!

• Fish-Free: No modifications needed.
• Gluten-Free: No modifications needed.
• Nut-Free:No modifications needed.
• Shellfish-Free:No modifications needed.
• Vegetarian:Replace the ikan bilis broth withvegetablestock instead.

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