Mrs Jang’s home-style fried eggs

Where Westerners have fried eggs and bacon, Chinese people have fried eggs with chilli, oyster sauce and spring onions.

Mrs Jang's fried eggs Credit: Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

This unassuming recipe is actually rather famous now. Everyone who’s tried these eggs – whether in the restaurant or at home – just raves about them. They’re also a very nostalgic dish for me, because Mrs Jang was my Uncle Jimmy’s mother, and she used to cook these eggs for my brothers and me after we’d been working in his noodle factory. They’re so simple, fresh and tasty. Where Westerners have fried eggs and bacon, Chinese people have fried eggs with chilli, oyster sauce and spring onions.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups vegetable oil
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 small pinch ground white pepper
• 2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
• 1–2 red bird’s eye chillies, finely sliced

Serve as a starter for 4 or as a meal for 2 with steamed rice

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a hot wok until the surface seems to shimmer slightly. Crack the eggs into a small bowl, then pour into the hot oil. After 2 minutes, reduce heat to allow the bottom of the eggs to become firm and crisp; the yolks should still be runny at this point.
2. Carefully slide a fish slice under the eggs, lift out of wok and pour off oil. Return eggs to wok and place back over the heat for another 1–2 minutes to crisp further.
3. Gently remove eggs from wok and drain off any excess oil before easing onto a plate. Drizzle eggs with oyster sauce and garnish with pepper, spring onions and chillies.

 

Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul premieres on Wednesday 21 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Wednesdays at 8.30pm on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

This unassuming recipe is actually rather famous now. Everyone who’s tried these eggs – whether in the restaurant or at home – just raves about them. They’re also a very nostalgic dish for me, because Mrs Jang was my Uncle Jimmy’s mother, and she used to cook these eggs for my brothers and me after we’d been working in his noodle factory. They’re so simple, fresh and tasty. Where Westerners have fried eggs and bacon, Chinese people have fried eggs with chilli, oyster sauce and spring onions.