Uni perched Atop Steamed Egg

I gladly ripped this recipe off bank resep keluarga jatmiko.

Yes, that is actually a blog name... I suspect that it is Indonesian. Honestly, I had no idea that it was a foreign site until the response to my comment came in faintly resembling cubism. At first I thought that the blogger was home schooled... but then I inspected the blog name a little closer.

Google translate has does accomplished some wonderful things in the way of blind translation. Bravo.

This recipe is a continuation of my previous entry: UNI EXOTICA UNCUT, when I ordered a ordered a 1+ lb live urchin to be slain so I could slurp on its eggs. (I am vile.) Challenged with the task of crafting ways to serve the leftovers, I came up with a traditional steamed egg.

Steamed egg is ubiquitous in Asian cuisine.

CHINESEI have seen my mother do it as a child. She'd steam egg diluted with water and accidentally let it sweat out to a spongy chewy green mess. Sheet music in hand, she'd abandon my sad little brother, playing his sad little violin, and storm towards the kitchen, screaming to high hell when she remember her egg.

KOREANMy friend, Liz, would mix egg with chicken broth and microwave it for 5 minutes, while I desperately tried to make a pot of rice. I hate high altitudes, they always fuck up your rice. The egg was good though.

JAPANESELittle caricatures of Japanese women with their perfect manners, clean lines, artistry, and hygiene, would bring me steamed egg, presented in the most delicate and tasty manner. Restaurants would be full of calm. My brothers would be spitting random pieces of food under the table.

I went with Japanese for the post.

STEAMED EGG W/ UNI IN DASHI BROTH (serves 4) Total time - 45 minutes; Active 10 mins

SUMMARY: You will spend half your time making dashi broth and assembling. Right before eating you can either steam the egg or microwave it (which takes 1 min.) You may need a steamer or a microwave. The challenge is preventing the air bubbles from making swiss cheese out of your custard. Enjoy with rice.

INGREDIENTS

- 4 Eggs
- 2 cups dashi or 2 dashi teabags
- 3/4 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon shoyu (soy suace)
- 1 tsp sake
- 1 1/4 tablespoon mirin

- Fresh uni (enough for a 2x4x.75 inch cube), divided into 4

- Nori for garnish

1. Make the dashi. You can make dashi by combining 2 cups of water with 2 store bought dashi teabags. Go to the Japanese store and ask around. They will know.

2. Mix the dashi, egg, salt, shoyu, sake, mirin together and pour through a fine mesh seive, into your stemaing vessel. You steaming vessel can be a bowl, a deep plate, or cute little single serving ramekins, as I have used below. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Psst! Now here's the secret: Take a piece of saran wrap and cover the surface of the egg, so that the egg touches the wrap. This will minimize the rampant air bubble action takes place during steaming, that leaves your egg as spongy as underwater coral.

3. Steam or microwave. Microwave turn out surprisingly well, but it is QUICK, and you are liekly to over cook the egg and end up with spongy egg. I microwaved the ramekin about for 60 seconds. Microwaving the whole mixture in a bowl should take about 4-5 minutes.

Steaming will take a longer, and you will have to watch it since I do not have exact times. You want to remove it AS SOON as it looks set, and not a minute later. The more it overcooks, the more wretched bubbles!

(The recipe I stole said that single serving ramekins should be steamed on high until the top of the custard looks like it will set, and then at low heat for 15 minutes. I feel like that is a long time, but what do I know? Not Indonesian.)

4. Once the custard is cooked, remove the plastic wrap carefully (Steam is HOT). De-pan you custard into a shallow bowl of warm dashi. Top with uni, garnish with nori. EAT!

Best mounted on rice!