Kam Heong Crispy Lotus Root With Salted Egg Yolk

I am fascinated with anything that has to do with salted duck egg because I heart this sinful and yet irresistible golden egg. Fried prawn with salted egg, fried crab with salted egg, fried pumpkin with salted egg and the list goes on… you name it I heart it. Lucky for me, the May-June issue of Flavors magazine featured a couple of recipes using salted duck egg (yipeeaiooo). The mag also includes 2 methods for preserving duck eggs.

I choose to cook lotus root with salted egg yolk since I think it’s a pretty interesting dish. Half way down the road (frying lotus root), I was getting ready to curse this mag because there’s no way I could obtain nice golden chips like in the recipe photo. Ahh but I did achieved a slightly ‘browned-golden’ chips after the finale. I am satisfied.

Hands off! This is mine. :P

Let’s start!

First thing first, let’s prepare salted egg yolk. Refer to this guide on how to clean salted duck egg.

Crack salted egg into a bowl.

Scoop out the yolk with a spoon.
As you can see the egg white in the bowl is not clear and translucent. That’s because it’s not fresh. But it’s not rotten though for there are no unpleasant smell there. Good thing is I only need the yolk.

There you go. Four lovely golden eggs.
Steam them for 7 minutes.

Mash yolk with a fork while its hot.
Put them aside.

Next, let’s prepare curry leaves.

Umpph this is not a healthy looking curry leaves (dried up). I stored ‘em too long in the fridge (same goes with my salted eggs). Still they can be eaten. :) Anyway to quickly pluck the leaves, place fingers at the end of the branch and swipe fingers along it. Remember to clean them beforehand.

Besides butter, here are the other 3 ingredients needed to make kam heong dish.

The word ‘kam heong’ means ‘golden fragrance’ in Chinese and perfectly describe this dish of golden salted egg yolks and fragrant curry leaves, butter, garlic and chilies. ~from Flavours magazine

Now in a saucepan,

Add water and rice vinegar. Bring it to boil.

While the saucepan is heating up, let’s prepare lotus root.

First, chop off both end of lotus root.

Next, peel the lotus root skin.
Clean lotus root under running water.

Now slice lotus root thinly (~about 2-3mm).

Once water+vinegar solution is boiling, blanch lotus root slices for 5 minutes.

Reason for adding rice vinegar to lotus root is to prevent browning.

Since I have to 2 lotus roots to make up the 500g, I slice the first lotus root and while blanching it, I proceed with slicing the second lotus root. This proof to be time-saving. And also the water+vinegar solution is just enough for half of it. So it’s a win-win situation.

Use a strainer to collect the blanched lotus root slices.

Now pat ‘em dry with kitchen towel. Hard work here. Haha
The slices are a little gummy/sticky. Also please be careful while handling them because they are fragile after blanching.

Next coat lotus root slices with tapioca flour.

Deep fry them in hot oil until golden brown.
Ohh this is the part where you have to be careful BECAUSE you will start munching at these chips. Hehehe

In a wok over medium heat, add oil and butter.

Now add garlic, chilies and curry leaves and fry until fragrant. Next mix in salted egg, sugar and salt. Lastly add lotus root chips and toss to coat in the mixture.

No photos here as I need to act really fast!

Since my wok is very heavy, I’m unable to do the tossing action like those restaurant cooks (hahaha). I use my wok spatula to do the job. Make sure you really toss/mix all the components well. Finish!

Lovely, crispy, fragrant and a lil’ spicy… got (ada) OOMPH!!!
My parents said ho chiak (delicious).

Make sure you eat the chips together with curry leaves and chili.
Add more bird-eye chilies if you’re a spicy person.

This dish is a perfect snack and side dish for all occasion. Try it.

 Print This Recipe
Kam Heong Crispy Lotus Root with Salted Egg Yolk
Adapted from Flavours magazine (May-June 2011)
Serves 2-3

Lotus root chips
500ml water
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
400g lotus root, peeled and thinly sliced (I use 500g lotus root)
tapioca flour to dust
vegetable oil for deep frying

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
40g butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
10 bird-eye chilies, chopped
15g curry leaves, cleaned (I use 10g leaves)
4 salted egg yolks, steamed for 7 minutes and mashed while hot
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Method:
To prepare lotus root chips:
1. Bring water and vinegar to boil and blanch the lotus root slices in the solution for 5 minutes; drain and pat dry with kitchen towels.
2. Coat lotus root with tapioca flour, shaking off excess, and deep fry in hot oil until golden brown.

To finish:
1. Heat a wok over medium heat and add oil and butter.
2. Fry garlic, chilies and curry leaves until fragrant, then mix in salted egg yolks, sugar and salt.
3. Add the lotus root chips and toss to coat in the mixture.

Tagged as: Chinese, Cuisine, fried, kam heong, lotus root, salted duck egg, vegetables