Remember sometime ago when I sang praises about ground beef and how it turned into a versatile easy meatball with mushroom? This week, I got hold of some ground pork and decided to make chả trứng hấp (Vietnamese steamed egg meatloaf). Ahum, sort of…
The egg meatloaf is a familiar breakfast item, served with cơm tấm – broken rice, pickled carrots and daikon and a dressing fish sauce. While cơm tấm is popular in the morning, you can find stores that sell the ubiquitous rice dish anytime of the day, at all sorts of establishments. There are pushing carts snooping under makeshift shelters with low tables and plastic stools for customers; there are joints with proper store fronts that also sell drinks and other desserts; in recent years, cơm tấm chains’ outlets started to mushroom all over the city.
I grew up eating cơm tấm sold by a lady near my house in Vietnam. For more than 20 years, she stations at the same alley, opens for breakfast until 8 or 9 am when everything runs out. Her seasoning of pork chop is on point. Her dressing fish sauce is well-balanced. Another plus point, her green onion oil is always fresh and green, with a generous amount of lard. Her meatloaves, while as simple as those from other shops, always have a crust that cannot be found elsewhere. The trick? Right after taking her meatloaf out of the steamer, she places the entire pan on the charcoal grill (conveniently used for pork chops) for a few minutes. It’s polarizing though: some people enjoy it (I do), but some belong to the definitely-no-crust school.
Basic ingredients that make the meatloaf include eggs (obviously), ground meat, black fungus (wood-ear mushroom) and mung bean vermicelli (also sold as bean thread noodle). These are thoroughly combined, seasoned and then steamed. The top surface is brushed with egg yolk for a vibrant color (sometimes mixed with annatto oil for an orange-ish hue). The common meat is pork, but some shops use a combination of pork/shrimp, pork/crab and thus charge a little bit more. The rehydrated mushroom adds crunch, while the vermicelli absorbs moisture from the egg and binds everything together.
Substance-wise, mine is an egg meatloaf. Form-wise, it’s a frittata. The reason? My pot doesn’t have enough space to accommodate a steamer insert/basket that can hold the mold. So I improvised: cooking the mixture in a skillet on the stove top until the side firms up and then finishing it in the oven.
I’m happy to report this gives me the crust I’m so fond of. The only downside is that baking runs the risk of over-drying the egg and its toppings, so it’s less forgiving than steaming. A piece of aluminium covering the top of the skillet will do the trick, but I didn’t bother. Also note to self for next time: use less vermicelli and cut it shorter for a better presentation.
Vietnamese Egg Meatloaf
Equipment
- Oven-proof skillet
Ingredients
- 200 g ground pork
- 50 g black fungus (wood-ear mushroom)
- 50 g mung bean vermicelli
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, minced
- 1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 5 eggs
- 1 tbsp oil
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Rehydrate the mushroom and vermicelli in 2 separate bowls with some water and take them out after 30minutes. Drain the excess liquid.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F(190°C).
- Slice the mushroom intothin strips.
- Use a pair of scissors tocut the vermicelli into 2 cm-threads.
- In a mixing bowl, combineall of the ingredients, except the eggs.
- Add in 3 whole eggs and 2 egg whites. Save 2 yolks to brush on top of the meatloaf later.
- Heat oil in an oven-safeskillet on medium high heat, pour in the egg mixture.
- When the side of the egg firms up, transfer the skillet to the pre-heated oven. Bake for 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and brush the top of the meatloaf with the reserved egg yolk.
