Childhood treat of egg and meat patties. — Photos: ALICE YONG
It just struck me that we take some things in life for granted. Since I grew up eating the delicious eggy meat patties that my mum used to cook, I’ve never given much thought to the origin of the dish. Just the other day, a friend asked me to share a favourite childhood recipe and it got me thinking.
When I asked my mother about it, this was what she said: “As a full-time housewife, I have to constantly think about what to cook. When I got fed-up of making the usual steamed minced pork, I decided to combine the minced pork with some beaten eggs and chopped spring onion, added some flavouring and made it into patties.”
Although the dish may appear deceptively easy to make, patience is necessary as the heat cannot be too high during the frying process. Otherwise, the patties may be burnt on the outside whilst still remaining raw inside.
Nowadays, I cook this dish regularly for my own family as well. — Contributed by ALICE YONG/jommakanlife.com
Ingredients for Egg and Meat Patties.
Mum’s Egg and Meat Patties
Ingredients
250g minced pork (or minced chicken)
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons chopped spring onion
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
¼ teaspoon pepper powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon salt 1 cup oil (for frying)
Method
1. Crack eggs into a large bowl and beat them.
2. Add in minced pork and spring onion. Stir to mix thoroughly.
Add spring onion, oyster sauce, sesame oil and pepper powder to the mixture.
3. Add in oyster sauce, pepper powder, sesame oil and salt. Stir well.
4. Heat oil in pan. Once it is hot enough, lower down the heat to medium.
5. Place 2 tablespoons of the egg and meat mixture into the pan. If you have a ladle, that would be a good yardstick for one patty.
Use a spatula to fold the patty mixture into half-moon shapes.
6. Let the mixture cook for about 2-3 minutes, then use a spatula to fold the egg-meat mixture into a half- moon shape. Be careful when doing this as the occasional oil splatter may happen.
7. Once one side of the patty turns golden brown, gently flip it over to fry the other side.
8. Scoop patty out of the pan once both sides turn golden-brown. Set aside on a plate.
9. Repeat steps 5 to 8 until all the egg- meat mixture is used up.
10. Serve the patties with your favourite chilli sauce or ketchup. Goes well with rice or you can eat this on its own.
