Spinach with Salted and Century Eggs

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There’re a couple of vegetables I refer to as Chinese spinach. Yin choi (苋菜) is one of them.

I love yin choi because the texture is smooth when I cook it with minimal oil. Other dark green veggies would be gritty when there isn’t enough oil.

Yin choi goes well with dried anchovies. I like the veggies stir-fried with dried anchovies that have been fried till crispy. That’s quite nice.

Yin choi in dried anchovy stock – with maybe some fishballs or pork meatballs – makes a quick, delicious soup.

When I’m tired of pairing yin choi with dried anchovies, I use a mix of century and salted eggs. The veggies are poached, a nice change from soups and stir fries.

I love the dish because it’s fresh tasting and there’s hardly any oil. I first had it in Chinese restaurants and after ordering it several times, I decided to hack the recipe.

I thought making the dish at home would be easy, and I was right. It’s just poaching a few leaves. How difficult can that be? Sometimes, I use yin choi. Other times, I use kow kei (枸杞, aka boxthorn and matrimony vine) like the restaurant version. Nothing to it at all.

Chinese Spinach with Salted & Century Egg (苋菜金银蛋）

Making spinach with salted and century egg is a cinch. You just need four main ingredients: Chinese spinach, salted, century egg, and chicken stock.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 4
Calories 101 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 salted egg
  • 1 century egg
  • 350 g Chinese spinach (yin choi, 苋菜）
  • 1 cup chicken stock (unsalted)
  • 2½ tsp light soya sauce

Instructions
 

  • Scrape black clay from salted egg. Rinse thoroughly. Cook in gently simmering water for 10 minutes. Remove to cold water to cool down. Cut into two halves. Remove egg from shell with a spoon. Dice 1 cm.
    1 salted egg
  • Peel century egg. Rinse and pat dry with paper towel. Dice 1 cm.
    1 century egg
  • Remove roots from spinach. Wash thoroughly and drain. Cut 7-8 cm (3 inches) long. If stems are old and woody, break them by hand instead. Tear off some of the peel on the stems as you do so. This helps make the stems more tender.
    350 g Chinese spinach (yin choi, 苋菜）
  • Gently simmer spinach in chicken stock, covered, till just soft and still quite green, 3-4 minutes. Add or reduce stock as necessary. There should be enough to cover 30-40% of the spinach.
    1 cup chicken stock (unsalted)
  • Drizzle with light soya sauce. Stir gently to mix well. Remove spinach to a deep plate, leaving stock in the pot.
    2½ tsp light soya sauce
  • Add diced salted and century eggs to chicken stock. Bring back to a boil. Simmer for 30 seconds, stirring gently.
  • Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Pour eggs and stock over spinach. Serve immediately.