Recipe: Scrambled ducks egg with pepino melon-strawberry rocket salad

Although salted duck eggs is popular in Asian cuisine, last week was the first time I cooked a regular duck egg. Duck eggs are becoming more readily available, you can find them in major supermarkets or wet markets. They are slightly more expensive than chicken eggs but larger in size (approximately 30% bigger).

Duck eggs are high in nutritional value, containing all eight of the amino acids essential for a healthy body as well as loads of vitamins and minerals. Each duck egg provide about 108 calories, 9.5g (about 15% of an adults recommended daily allowance), and higher fat content (7.3g) than chicken eggs. They are also quite high in cholesterol (about 2x the amount of chicken eggs). With many choosing to lead a healthy lifestyle nowadays, it is certainly one of those things that we should only indulge every once in a while.

Creamy scrambled ducks egg

I chose to scramble the duck eggs for lunch, using the Gordon Ramsay method (on-off the heat). Upon cracking the eggs, I immediately noticed that the yolk is almost 2x larger than regular chicken eggs. It also takes a longer time to cook duck's egg than chicken's egg. What you get is extra creamy, extra rich scrambled eggs. Wow! Luckily I had a healthy salad to balance it out. ;)

My daughter also had some of the scrambled duck eggs, and she said to me, "Mummy it tastes like the salted egg yolk custard pau that we have at Dragon-i", and you know what, she is absolutely spot-on. No wonder we like this scrambled egg so much as the custard pau is also something we order whenever we visit the restaurant.

This is a nice change as well as being a sinful treat, however for daily breakfasts or brunches, I will still stick to regular chicken's egg.

Pepino melon is a new fruiting plant that we bought for our garden. It is also known as solanum muricatum. The taste is a cross between a honeydew melon and cucumber. The fruit is a purple hue with purple stripes and becomes more yellow as it ripens. You can view more photos here.

We finally got our first harvest a day before I cooked this scrambled ducks egg. I thought of making a nice simple salad to go with the eggs, putting together a few ingredients such as rocket leaves, strawberries and pepino melon and finished off with honey vinaigrette. A refreshing salad, plus the vinaigrette helps cut some of the richness of the ducks egg. Pepino melon cannot be found easily in KL, so you can omit or substitute with other soft fruits such as avocado, kiwi or melon.

Pepino dulce melon

Extra rich, extra creamy.

Scrambled duck eggs
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 8-10 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
3 duck eggs
1 1/2 tbsp cold butter
1/2 tbsp cold milk or whipping cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper

To serve
Dill
Cherry tomatoes-on-vine
2 slices toast

1. Break the eggs into a cold, heavy-based frying pan (do NOT season it now), add half the butter and put it on medium low heat. Using the spatula, stir the eggs frequently to combine the yolk with the white. Keep stirring (as you would when cooking a risotto - do not stop stirring).

Duck's egg - large orange yolk

Duck's egg (top) vs chicken's egg

2. Add the remaining butter as the mixture begins to set. Do not let them get too hot, you will need to move the pan on and off the heat - about 2-3 times. The eggs will take about 8-10 minutes to cook.

3. Add the cream/cold milk (brings the temp of the eggs down) and season the eggs with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with toast, salad (recipe below) and cherry tomatoes on side. Top with chopped dill.

Note: Your children can help with breaking the eggs (duck's eggs have a slightly harder shell) and help with scrambling the eggs on the hob (with supervision). You may need to help them take it on-off the heat depending on their age.

Pepino melon-strawberry rocket salad with honey vinaigrette
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
50g rocket leaves

3-4 fresh strawberries , sliced

3-4 pepino melon, peeled and quartered

Almond slivers

For the dressing:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
Freshly ground salt and black pepper

1. In a bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and set aside.

2. Place the rocket into a bowl and pour in half the dressing (from Step 1) and toss. Scatter the
dressed rocket on a serving plate and top with the strawberry and pepino melon. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the salad and top with the almond slivers.

*I am submitting this to the Little Thumbs Up "Egg" event organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by me (Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out). You can link your egg recipes here.

If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! Thanks ;)

Recipe: Lemon Madeira Cake (Nigella Lawson)

When my aunt MC comes to visit, I always tell her to inform me at least 24 hours beforehand so that I can bake her a cake which she can eat when she arrives. I spent a lot of my childhood with this particular aunt, and she has always treated me very well, and I guess this is one of my ways of saying thanks and repaying her for her kindness. Especially since both her and her daughter enjoys the cakes I make them. :)

Lemon Madeira Cake

During their last visit, I made them Madeira cake using this recipe which they liked very much. I decided to make them Madeira cake again, this time using Nigella Lawson's recipe from her book "How to be a Domestic Goddess" which I bought during BBW sale. The first recipe from the book is her "My Mother-in-Law's Madeira Cake", which was given to her by her mother-in-law Carrie and she describes it as the best version she has tried.

Lovely crumb

I have not always had luck with Nigella's recipes, especially her bake recipes - I once made her sticky toffee pudding recipe and it turned out too sweet and sloppy. I had my fingers crossed for this one, and luckily, it turned out beautifully. Very easy to make (kids helped with this weekend bake) and loved how beautiful it turned out - golden brown with a long crack down the middle as it should be.

The reason why I renamed this to Lemon Madeira Cake is because the first flavour that hits your tastebuds is the tangy lemon. My other Madeira cake recipe is slightly more dense and buttery with just a little lemon flavour from the zest, whereas here both lemon juice and zest is used so the flavour is definitely dominant. The lemon also cuts some of the richness from the butter so it makes the cake texture taste light.

This bake had a beautiful crumb, a strong lemon flavour and dense texture. Our guests enjoyed the cake (we finished it all, no problem!). However the best version I have tried is still my original Madeira cake recipe as I prefer it buttery.

Yummy! It's cake time!

Cake model ;)

Lemon Madeira Cake (aka My Mother-in-Law's Madeira Cake)
Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess"
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Makes 8-10 slices

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cup self-raising cake flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour


1. You will need a loaf tin (23 x 13 x 7cm / 9 x 5 x 3 inches), well-greased and base lined with baking paper.

2. Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF (no fan).

3. Cream the butter and sugar, and add the lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour for each.

4. Then gently mix in the rest of the flour and, finally, the lemon juice.

5. Place in preheated oven and and bake for 1 hour or until a cake-tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

6. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.

Note: Kids can help with baking this cake. They can help measure out the ingredients, sift the flour, break the eggs, operate the mixer and pour the batter into the loaf tin. And then they can help eat! :)

Note: I did not have self-raising cake flour, so I made my own using regular cake flour, baking powder and salt- for every cup of cake flour use 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

*I am submitting this to the "Cook Like a Star" event (Nigella Lawson) event hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking.

*I am also submitting this to the Little Thumbs Up "Egg" event organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by me (Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out). You can link your egg recipes here.


If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! Thanks ;)