Japanese scallop pasta in salted egg cream sauce is good for its salty, rich sauce and scallops seared golden while still sweet. The difficulty is judging the sauce, thick enough to cling without drying out.
The flour cooks in butter for 2 to 3 minutes until it browns, then the salted egg yolk and cream go in, with water added slowly until the sauce is just thick enough. The crisp fried mac mat leaves are crumbled into the sauce.
This batch weighs about 3.3kg, at roughly 122 calories per 100g. Toss the hot sauce through the pasta and eat it straight away, as it thickens as it cools.
Method
Discard the whites from the salted eggs, rinse the yolks with white rice wine, then steam them over high heat for about 20 minutes until fully cooked and mash them while they are still warm.
The scallops need no thawing. Season both sides with salt, black pepper and chili flakes.
Heat a cast iron pan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter, then fry half the mac mat leaves with 1 tablespoon of minced garlic until the leaves are fragrant and crisp, and lift them out.
Sear the scallops quickly until golden, then lift them out.
Wipe the pan clean, add 3 tablespoons of fresh butter, fry the remaining garlic and chili flakes until fragrant, then stir in 2 teaspoons of all purpose flour and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the flour browns.
Add the salted egg yolk and cook for 1 minute, holding back 1 to 2 tablespoons for the garnish.
Lower the heat, stir in 100ml of cream, then add water little by little until the sauce is thick enough. Season with salt and black pepper, crumble in a few of the fried mac mat leaves and keep the sauce hot.
Cook 250g of pasta in 2 liters of water to the packet instructions until it is done to your liking, drain it and tip it straight into the hot sauce.
Toss it with the scallops and the parmesan, scatter more mac mat leaves, salted egg and cheese over the top, and serve it while it is hot.
Tips
Cooking the flour in butter until it browns takes away the raw taste and thickens the sauce gradually.
Add the water slowly, as pouring it in at once thins the sauce beyond saving.
Steam the salted egg yolks for 20 minutes and mash them while they are still warm.
Shredded kaffir lime leaf stands in when mac mat leaves are hard to find.
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