Vegan Fried Eggs – Kai Dao Jay (ไข่ดาวเจ)
Servings: 18 vegan eggs
Ingredients
For the egg yolk
- 300 grams pumpkin
- 25 grams rice flour (3 tablespoons)
- ¾ teaspoon black salt
For the egg white
- 300 grams very firm tofu
- 25 grams rice flour (3 tablespoons)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon thin soy sauce
- Packaged yuba (bean curd sheets)
- Vegetable oil
Instructions
- First make the yolk. Steam the pumpkin over high heat until fork tender. Allow to cool completely. Blend (or use a food processor, or mash) to a puree with the rice flour and black salt. The texture will be like chalky mashed potatoes.
- Decant all of the yolk to a bowl and rinse out the container. Make the egg white mixture by blending the tofu, rice flour, soy sauce, and water together. Scoop mixture out into a second bowl.
- Find a small bowl that’s somewhere between 4-5 inches in diameter. Use this as a template for cutting circles out of yuba. Cut 30 circles to start. You may need more.
- Set your steaming apparatus up by lining each tier with a plate that fits. Bring to a rapid boil.
- Place half of the yuba circles on your countertop and add a tablespoon of egg white to each sheet. Spread to about ½ centimeter of the edges. Add a heaped ½ tablespoon of yolk to the centre. Place a second sheet of yuba on top and press around the whites to seal to the edges. It’s okay if a little of the white oozes out. Do not press the yolk at all.
- Place the eggs on the plates in the steamer, being careful to not overlap them too much. Steam for ten minutes. Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes before frying.
- When ready to fry, add about ¼ cup vegetable oil to your wok. Aim for medium-high heat. Add one of the eggs and use a wok spatula to toss some of the oil over the top of the egg while the bottom and edges crisp and brown. Alternatively flip the egg to cook for a few seconds. This should take 30 seconds to a minute. Remove to kitchen roll to drain.
Notes
- Thin soy sauce refers to basic Thai soy sauce.
- You do not want to use fresh yuba (soy milk skin) for this recipe. Instead, look for packaged bean curd sheets with Chinese text on the packaging. The sheets must be flexible and not the dried kind that are brittle. This is not the same as tofu skin.
- Yuba can dry out fairly quickly so keep any pieces you aren’t using in a sealed container.
- You can dip the ½ tablespoon measure in a little bit of oil before scooping the yolk that it releases easily in a uniform shape when you drop it onto the white.