Mustard Vegetable with Salted Duck’s Egg

We had another family favorite for dinner tonight – mustard vegetable (“gai choy” in Cantonese) topped with a salted egg sauce. It’s a popular dish in Cantonese restaurants, and it’s real easy to make at home too.

Gai choy generally has a slight bitterness, and I think it is probably an acquired taste. Whilst many people love this vegetable precisely for its slight bitterness and unique flavor, it took me a long, long time before I was even willing to eat it! The gai choy is first boiled in water that has had a little sugar, salt and oil added to it. Once the vegetables are at the crunchiness or softness that is preferred, drain well and place on serving platter.

The sauce: combine in a small bowl 2 tbsps of light soy sauce, ½ tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine, pepper and sugar (again, the measurements are only estimates based what it looked like as I poured the ingredients from their bottles!), and set aside.

Dice the hard-boiled salted duck’s egg and set aside.

In hot oil, sauté some minced garlic. Add the above sauce mixture. A quick stir, then add a little cornstarch solution to thicken the gravy. Allow the gravy to thicken before cracking in one fresh egg. Stir the egg so that it forms nice “strands” in the gravy as it cooks. When the gravy is ready, add the diced salted egg, and allow to heat through. Pour sauce over the boiled vegetable and serve.

Happy gai-choying!

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