Hong Kong Style Egg Waffles

For those who celebrate it, Happy Lunar New Year!!! :) It`s the year of the horse, which is my zodiac animal. :) Do you happen to know yours?

This post is actually a day late. I had planned this post for yesterday, but with the New Years celebrations, my time with family took precedent. This post doesn`t include a recipe, though. Well, not really anyway. However, I wanted to share these with you since it is the start of a new year according to the Lunar calendar. Being a Chinese American, I felt it would be nice to share a little bit of the food people from my culture eats. Although, this is NOT a New Years food, just a regular day type of food. Haha~

My dad made these beautifully, delicious waffles. These waffles look and taste different compared to the ones you are used to seeing. They are called Hong Kong Style egg waffles, as you can guess, famous from the city of Hong Kong (a very large port city in China). They`re called egg waffles, since they look like little eggs! If you ever visit Hong Kong, you will see these sold from vendor carts on the streets, hot off the iron press. They smell wonderful and are already sweet, so you don`t eat these with syrup like American/European waffles. They can be made with different flavors like green tea, chocolate, or strawberry. We usually make it the original way--with freshly shredded coconut.

My dad loves eating these as well. We searched everywhere for the waffle iron! I finally managed to find one at a Williams Sonoma store and bought one as his birthday gift. Hehe. The shape of the "egg" molds are smaller than the traditional egg waffles presses in Hong Kong, but this was the best press for regular home use (we didn`t want to buy the ones Chinese restaurants had).The shape of the waffles gives them a crisp exterior and soft insides.

I had such a fun time photographing these. Mainly, because I did it all for fun. My dad was making them and I just grabbed my camera and challenged myself to take pictures of these. He has been making these waffles for our family for about a year and I always had trouble shooting them. But, I was hit with inspiration this day and I think the photos came out well!

Despite the fact that I don`t have a recipe to share today, I can share with you my dad`s recipe and notes for these. It`s in Chinese and even though I don`t understand it at all, there`s a beauty with having your parents make food for you even though I am fully capable of making my own food. Haha.

My dad and I do not have many topics we can talk about (due to our culture and the way we`re raised), but since I started baking so often, it revived his inner baker. Now, we have chats about baking, flours, eggs, and baking powder! It definitely reinstates my belief of the importance of making food for those we love. ♥

Hope you are all having a fabulous week!! :) Stay warm.

-----* UPDATE: 05.07.14 *-----

Since I received so many requests for the recipe, I asked my dad for the recipe. We tried out this recipe countless of times by now! Like most of the world, Chinese people use the metric system, which is why ingredients are listed in grams and milliliter. This is how my dad measures for the recipe. However, I have provided the US measurements as stated in my dad`s recipe. Be warned: we have not tried it using the US measurements.

Egg waffles are usually made with thinly shredded coconut (the meat inside coconuts). My dad freshly shreds them and does not use the prepackaged ones at the store since the texture and size are different. People eat these as a snack or dessert, since they are slightly sweet. Despite having "waffle" in the name, it`s not eaten for breakfast. Weird, huh?

I`m not sure where my dad got the recipe, so I can`t appropriately credit the source. However, if it`s either yours or you know the original source, please do inform me and I will update the recipe! :)

Hong Style Egg Waffles (Egglets)

Yields: about 6-8  waffles | Level: Easy | Total Time:  40 minutes | Print

Ingredients:  

-          110 grams (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) granulated sugar

-          2 large eggs

-          28 grams (2 tablespoons) whole milk

-          140 ml (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) water

-          140 grams (1 cup) cake flour, shifted

-          1 teaspoon baking powder

-          28 grams (2 tablespoons) tapioca starch

-          25 grams (1 ½ tablespoon) olive oil

-          freshly shredded coconut

Directions:

1.       In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs for 1 minute. Start on low and increase your mixing speed.

2.       Add the milk and water. Mix to combine.

3.       While mixing on low speed, gradually add the cake flour, tapioca starch, and baking powder until combine.

4.       Add and mix in the oil.

5.       Heat your egg waffle iron/machine according to manufacturer's instructions.

6.       Pour some batter into greased mold, sprinkle some shredded coconut, then scoop more batter on top.  Close lid and cook according to your manufacturer's instructions.

7.       Repeat with rest of batter.

*Notes:

-          Best eaten day of. If not eaten, store at room temperature and toast lightly in an oven for a few minutes until crispy again.

-          This is the pan we use. If you use this, make sure to rotate the pan over your heat source for the best results.

-          You can definitely flavor your waffles using Pandan flavoring, green tea powder, or cocoa powder.