HK gai-daan-jai stories

In the early 1950s, egg waffles firstly appeared in Hong Kong and have since become a popular street snack. People back then didn't want to waste broken eggs which could not be sold to customers, so they created the egg shaped iron machine and blended egg with milk and flour to make this meaningful and tasty waffle.

Hong Kong egg waffles look deceptively easy to make, but attempts to reproduce that street-side flavor at home often disappoint. We usually find ourselves returning to these gai daan jai vendors eat again.

Unlike the fancy electricity-powered waffle makers that are used throughout the city, 73-year-old Ah Bak (an endearment for "old man," as the vendor is known) uses a frills-free set up of burning charcoal and well-worn waffle moulds.

This most famous egg waffles - a spherical egg-based waffle with an eggy leavened batter cooked between two plates of semi-spherical cells by its original Cantonese name, gai daan jai (鷄蛋仔) which was originated and invented in Hong Kong.

Now it stirs up the world with the names such as Eggettes, Eggloo or Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle Ice Cream Cones...etc.

What make it different with the traditional grid cake with square pattern? The oval egg-shape is crucial factor to make it different, only the experience maker know the trick that one side should be cook longer to leave a spongy egg-yolk-alike inside of each gai daan jai, see the picture.

You can select the crispy of chewy depends on your own recipe and eating method, especially the trendy of fusion recipes vs original traditional taste. However, if you drop by Hong Kong, it is a must to taste the original eggy flavor that's still the best selling type overall.


Reference: WIKI and
Gai daan tsai challenge: The quest for Hong Kong's best egg waffle by Charmaine Mok
http://travel.cnn.com/hong-kong/eat/hong-kong-egg-waffles-885080/

【Dictionary】
English : Gai Daan Jai, Egg puffs, Eggettes, Eggloo
香港叫：雞蛋仔