When I was younger, my mom used to make Rock Sugar Egg Syrup (冰糖鸡蛋糖水). She used a double boiler to gently cook the raw eggs which she added one by one into the pot of rock sugar syrup that she had prepared. In that way the yolk will be cooked but the whites will not break away from it too much. They looked like poached eggs but the yolks are well cooked.
I found an image of the enamel double boiler, she used at What To Cook Today. Marvellina is the publisher of this website. She also develops her own recipes which she shares with clear instructions and lots of photos.
If you do not have a double boiler, you can use a pot and a glass or metal bowl to do the job, as shown in the following video. However, the bowl must have a lid for it.
Drinking rock sugar water or syrup has a cooling effect on the body. I was told that it can become heaty to consume if it has been cooked over fire for a period of time. I guess that must be why my mom used the double boiler. Read the following articles if you are curious to know what I mean about cooling and heaty food and their effects on the body.
These are the steps for making a bowl of 冰糖鸡蛋糖水 (Rock Sugar Egg Syrup) if you use the above makeshift double boiler:
-boil water in the pot.
-place a glass or metal bowl over the pot as shown in the video.
-the base of the bowl should not be touching the boiling water.
-place rock sugar (a small piece) in the glass or metal bowl.
-add a bowl and a 1/4 of boiling water to the rock sugar.
-stir till rock sugar has dissolved.
-cover the glass or metal bowl.
-lower heat and continue to boil.
-add a raw egg when the water in the bowl starts steaming up and is hot enough.
-cover the glass or metal bowl and continue heating.
-it is ready to be served once the egg looks like poached egg.
It is alright to add hot water to the syrup if it is too sweet for you. However, do not make it with too little rock sugar or the 糖水 (sugar syrup) will taste too bland.
From there, I picked up 3 other methods to prepare it without a double boiler:
I can even use a rice cooker to make it with red dates and brown sugar:
I also like eat my eggs with white fungus cooked as a dessert or soup. These are the ingredients for the dessert:
-White fungus
-Wolfberry
-Red dates or dried longan
-Hard boiled chicken eggs and/or quail eggs
You can see how it is made by watching this video:
However, when I use white fungus, especially, in my soup, I like it to have a more gelantin texture. Watch this video if you like it slimy too. The hard boiled eggs, if required, can be added to the dessert with the white fungus.
Though it is suggested that you leave the dessert overnight in the fridge for the gelantin texture, it can be eaten as soon as it is cooked.
These are the ingredients for making the soup:
-White fungus (wash and prepare as shown in video)
-Wolfberry (for me it’s optional)
-Red dates (I just soak them in water and rinse them out twice)
-Yok chok (soak in water till soften and clean)
-Chicken (my choice drumsticks cut into 3 sections)
-Hard boiled chicken eggs (1 for each person) or quail eggs (15 per pack)
-1 Soup bowl of water
-Salt to taste
When I use my slow cooker for boiling soup, I prefer to boil the meat (chicken or pork) in a pot of water (1 1/2 soup bowl) first. In that way, when I pour the water into the slow cooker, I can sieve out any impurities from the boiled meat. Then I will add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook it on low for 3 to 4 hours.
I made a nice discovery from reading, "5 Tricks That Make Your Slow Cooker Even More Useful, If That's Even Possible". You can also turn your slow cooker into a double boiler to brew herbal soup in this manner.
