I cooked: Steamed sweet egg custard (Dessert)

When I saw this recipe on Jessie's blog, I immediately wanted to try making it. My children love eating the savoury version, ie. Japanese chawanmushi so I knew they would love this too. Also, when we go for dim sum, my daughter likes to eat the egg custard only from the egg tarts and sometimes leave the pastry crust for us - this dessert will allow her to eat all the egg custard that she likes! Furthermore, it is quite low in sugar.

Steamed sweet egg custard

Since this is a delicate dessert, Jessie advises to treat it like a baby hence everything has to be done gently or over low heat. When I made it the first time, I kept checking the egg custard in the steamer to make sure that I did not overcook it. My recommendation is to check it every minute after 5 minutes cooking time, to make sure the custard has just set and is nice and wobbly (give it a little shake and the custard should wobble). I feel that it tastes very much like the egg custard from egg tarts but with the silky smooth texture of tau fu fah (beancurd dessert). I like it very much, will definitely make it again and again! Thanks Jessie for sharing this recipe ;)

Steamed Sweet Egg Custard (Dessert)

Recipe adapted from Jessie-CookingMoments

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 8-10 minutes
Serves 1-2

Ingredients
1 egg
15-18g caster sugar (I increased the sugar slightly since the milk I used was not the sweet type)
125ml full cream milk

To garnish

Mint sprig

1. Fill water in a steamer and bring to boil.

2. Crack the egg in a bowl and whisk gently with a fork until smooth & slightly foamy (this will take about 1 1/2 minutes).

3. Warm milk and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until 28C (you need a thermometer for this for accuracy). This will take less than 1 minute, so keep an eye on the temperature. If you have a microwave, you can place sugar & milk in a microwave-proof bowl. Heat up in the microwave for 15-17 seconds and stir to dissolve the sugar. Do not overheat or the heat of the milk will cook the egg.

4. Pour (3) into (2) and stir gently until well-combined. Sieve through a fine strainer into a clean bowl. Divide & spoon into 2 small teacups. I did not have small teacups so I just used a 10-cm ramekin. Spoon out small bubbles and cover with aluminium foil.

5. Place the teacups of egg mixture into the steamer and steam for approximately 8-10 minutes over medium-high heat or until the egg custard is still a bit wobbly when shaked. If the egg custard does not wobble, it means that they are over-cooked.

6. Garnish with mint sprig and serve immediately. 

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here.