Experiment: Chayote with Salted Duck Egg – Sybaritica

This experiment was inspired by a recipe I came across for Bitter Melon. I decided to adapt it for Chayote  by using a slightly tangy marinade and first grilling the vegetable before sautéing it with the preserved eggs…

The Ingredients

  • 1 Chayote
  • 2 Salted Duck Eggs
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1 tbsp. Sherry
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
  • 1 tsp. Sesame Oil
  • ½ tsp. Sugar

The Method

Slice the Chayote into strips. Toss them in a bowl with the salt and leave to sit for twenty minutes or so.

Break the Salted Duck Eggs into a bowl and then break up the solid parts of the yolk with a knife into tiny chunks.

When the Chayote slices have wilted somewhat, rinse them well and squeeze out the excess water and put back in the bowl. Mix together the sugar, lemon juice, sherry and sesame oil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour this over the chayote and leave to marinate for at least fifteen minutes.

Lightly grill the chayote until cooked and some nice light grill marks appear. Do not overdo this part. You want the marks to be faint… not heavily dark.

Heat your wok over medium flame and add a tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, pour in the egg and, just as the white is beginning to set, break it up into chunks with the edge of your spoon. You don’t want to scramble the eggs entirely; rather you should end up with distinct pieces.

Finally, add the chayote slices, sauté briefly until they are heated through then plate and serve.

The Verdict

First, I had a bit of disappointment with the final appearance of this dish. One of the duck eggs had a very liquid yolk rather than being a solid bright gold and it leached its color into the whites. I had hoped to have a nice contrast with the gold and a pure white but that, unfortunately, did not happen.

Still, the taste of this was amazing. It was salty, of course, but the umami quality of the eggs gave a lovely fillip to the mild, earthy freshness of the chayote. The chayote was still just a little crisp and the overall texture was excellent. I was really, really please with the result and I will definitely be adding this to my repertoire. If you can lay your hands on some salted eggs, please give this a try!

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