Eggs are probably the cheapest source of protein around, and quite a complete meal in itself. There are many ways of cooking it and hard-boiled is one of them. Once in awhile, I do find myself having a couple of hard-boiled eggs lying around which can be a wee bit difficult just to consume them in plain form (apart from dipping them into dark soya sauce or making egg sandwiches filling). So, one good way of cooking them would be to make an appetizing dish like this Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs.

Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs is one of those recipes which you can cook in small amounts for one or two meals or big amounts enough to feed a party. There are essentially 3 parts to cooking this dish and you can do them separately at your own convenience. Firstly, you need to make the perfect hard-boiled eggs using eggs which are a couple of days old. Fresh eggs are more difficult to get rid of the shell as the egg membrane tends to stick to the egg white. You will also need to prepare the chilli paste or sambal by pounding them or using a blender. I prefer pounding as I prefer the sambal paste slightly “rough”. And finally, the cooking process which does not take all that long.

This easy Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs recipe is appetizing because it uses tamarind juice to give it a slightly tangy taste to the otherwise flat chilli base. The liberal use of onions gives it a natural sweetness though sugar is also used. If you can find cili boh (chilli paste), that will save a bit of time for you. Otherwise, blend red chilli (seeded) with the rest of the ingredients. Experiment by yourself especially on the amount of chilli, tamarind and sugar to use. If you are looking for an easy or simple sambal hard-boiled eggs recipe or wondering how to cook sambal eggs, try this.

This is my recipe for Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs

Ingredients

• 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 500 ml tamarind juice (mix water with tamarind seeds and use the juice)
• 5 tablespoons cooking oil

Pound / Blend

• 3 onions
• ½ bulb garlic
• 4 pieces candle nut (buah keras)
• 1 inch belacan
• 1 ½ tablespoons cili boh / 6 – 8 pieces red chilli

Method

Heat oil in wok and shallow fry the hard-boiled eggs till eggs are slightly browned. Do not over-fry the eggs. Remove eggs and set aside.

Add blended mixture to wok (with remaining oil) and reduce heat to medium low. Stir well until aromatic and gradually add tamarind juice tablespoon by tablespoon. Add salt and sugar to taste. Once all tamarind juice has been added, return fried eggs to the tamarind sambal mixture, coat evenly and allow to boil until sambal is reduced in liquid.

Serve with rice or noodles.

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Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs

Steamed egg custard has probably got to be one of the easiest dishes to cook but difficult to master and make perfect. Using just eggs, water and salt, you can whip up a nice smooth custard looking dish or one which is less desirable in experience much unlike the craters of the moon if you don’t get the technique right.

The Steamed Egg Custard is just the basic recipe as you can improvise it by adding other ingredients as you like. The Chawanmushi, which is the Japanese Steamed Egg Custard, is a more elaborate version with other ingredients like mushrooms, crab stick and chicken meat. You can always start learning with something simple like this Steamed Egg Custard recipe before attempting the more difficult ones with added ingredients.

This is my wife’s recipe for Steamed Egg Custard

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 250 ml water (previously boiled and cooled to room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method

Crack eggs on a bowl. Add salt and water. Using a fork, gently stir the eggs and slowly breaking the yolk. Mix well without beating the eggs as you would want to minimize bubbles from forming.

Pour mixture over a fine sieve into a semi-shallow bowl which is suitable for steaming.

Bring water to boil in a steamer. Place bowl with egg mixture into steamer and gently stir the mixture for 30 seconds. Close steamer lid and reduce heat to medium low. Keep heat on high and close lid but just allowing a little gap for the steam to escape. You can use a spoon or spatula to create the gap (this is the secret to getting the perfect steamed egg custard with silky smooth surface).

Steam for 20 minutes before removing from steamer.

Sprinkle with some fried shallots before serving.

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Steamed Egg Custard

There are so many type of omellette recipes around and it can only be limited by your imagination. I remembered when I was young and was traveling on Malaysia Airlines, I was served a really delicious omellette on board. It’s one of those times when you wish you could have a second helping of airline food. No kidding!

Anyway, the omellette had its based ingredients of eggs, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. I have since modified that dish a little and this time, I’ve added minced pork and capsicums (bell peppers) into it. A friend of mine came back from Cameron Highlands recently and bought me some good looking capsicums of the green, yellow and red varieties. So, I mixed all of them up for this omellette. The end result was a really tasty omellette which my daughter loved (she didn’t want to eat rice that night and preferred just to chomp down on the omellette).

This is my recipe for Colourful Pork Omellette

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 50 grammes minced pork
• 8 cherry tomatoes (sliced thickly)
• 6 button mushrooms (sliced thinly)
• About 30 grammes each of red, green and yellow capsicums (diced small)
• ½ large onion (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons cooking oil (palm oil preferred)

Seasoning

• 2 pinches of salt
• ½ teaspoon light soya sauce
• ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder

Method

Crack egg into a bowl. Add seasoning. Add minced pork and beat together with eggs till even. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in frying pan (non-stick pan preferred). Saute onions till translucent, followed by button mushrooms. Saute for about 30 seconds followed by cherry tomatoes and capsicums. Stir evenly for about a minute.

Add beaten egg and pork mixture and stir it evenly with the rest of the ingredients, stopping just before the eggs fully cooked. Reduce heat to low and allow ingredients to cook through. Cover with a lid, if available. Once bottom part is cooked and firm, flip over to the other side, increase heat just a little and continue cooking till done.

Dish up and serve.

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Colourful Pork Omellette

This will be two omelette recipes in succession, the previous being fried oyster omelette. Lap cheong is cantonese for sausages. This is uniquely chinese and is usually available in chinese stores in western countries or at the market or dried produce stores in parts of Asia.

Lap cheong has a distinct sweet taste and the level of saltiness depends on the amount of salt put in by the manufacturer. There are many ways of eating this, fried, steamed or cooked with other dishes, which in this case, is used as the ingredient for an omelette. Lap cheong is, on a visual inspection, probably 70% fat and 30% meat content. Therefore, you don’t really need to use much oil when cooking it. As for storage, you can keep it in the fridge for a couple of months (which I have done). Definitely handy to use when you want to cook a meal in a jiffy.

This is the recipe for Lap Cheong Omelette

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of lap cheong (sliced thinly, just like salami)
• 2 large eggs (beaten)

Method

If you are using a wok, heat up 1 teaspoon of oil. Otherwise, it is preferred to use a non-stick frying pan.

Fry lap cheong for 30 seconds until aromatic. Pour beaten eggs over it and reduce to low heat to allow the underside of the eggs to cook.

Flip egg over once the upper part starts to cook. Increase heat and allow to fry for 30 seconds before serving. Garnish to your liking. There is no need to add seasoning as the lap cheong is full bodied in taste.

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Lap Cheong Omelette

Fried oyster omelette (called Oh Chien in Hokkien) is one of my favourite dishes at the hawkers in Malaysia. In Malaysia alone, there are a few types of fried oyster omelette. In Kuching and Pulau Pangkor, the omelette is crispy much like crackers whilst in Pontian, Melaka and Penang, it is slightly soft and sticky (owing to the use of potato starch).

Before you start going “ooh-aah, Pablo can cook!”, let me tell you that this is what I ate in Pontian a couple of months ago and “No”, I did not cook this. I might try cooking it one day if I can get my hands on fresh small-sized oysters. The other ingredients in this dish are pretty much standard and easy to find. I have eaten fried oyster omelette which has medium or slightly larger sized omelette but found them a tad too overpowering in the taste of the oyster. Besides, I think using larger sized oysters are a waste. Better have them fresh with a squeeze of lemon instead.

If at all you can find the ingredients, why not try this Fried Oyster Omelette recipe by Amy Beh?

Ingredients

• 30 fresh oysters (small ones)
• 110g sweet potato flour
• 250ml water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp chopped spring onions
• 1 tbsp chopped chives
• 4 tbsp oil

Ground ingredients (well combined)

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 shallots
• 1 tbsp chilli paste
• 1/2 tbsp coriander powder (‘ketumbar’ powder)
• A dash of pepper

Method

Soak oysters in water.

Mix sweet potato flour, salt and water into a thin runny batter and leave aside.

Heat oil in a non-stick wok or pan. Scoop out two ladles of batter onto the wok. Give a quick stir and crack in the eggs one at a time. Stir quickly, then push cooked batter to the side of the wok.

Add 2 tbsp oil to the wok; add ground ingredients and saute well. Add in oysters. Cook for a minute and combine the egg and sweet potato flour batter together with the oysters.

Add pepper and sprinkle with chopped spring onions and chives. Give it a stir then dish out and serve with chilli garlic sauce. [source]

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Fried Oyster Omelette – Oh Chien

Before I decided to put up this recipe, I have no idea that this gourd that I’ve been eating the past 30 years or so is called Ridge Gourd. I’ve always known it as “kak kue” in Hokkien (meaning pointed or corner gourd). So, I had to do some googling and finally saw the picture of the familiar gourd – the ridge gourd. Simcooks has a picture of it and a different recipe for this gourd.

Whilst the size of this gourd may seem intimidating (it can measure up to 50cm long!), there is not much of it left by the time you finish cooking. You see, it is pretty much like a sponge and hence, it is also known to be your bathroom loofah in dried form (minus the skin, of course). To serve a plate of ridge gourd, you will need at least 2 pieces of ridge gourd measuring at least 30 cm in length each. Slice off the skin using a peeler and cut them into chunks much like potato wedges. Don’t worry if after preparation you have a big heap of ridge gourd chunks because it will eventually reduce into at least 1/3 in size. Oh, by the way, just like how crab or prawn shells will change colour as it cooks, the ridge gourd flesh will turn from white to green upon cooking. Nice isn’t it?

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Ridge Gourd with Eggs and Prawns

Ingredients

• 2 pieces of ridge gourd (prepared as indicated above)
• 2 large eggs
• Small or medium sized prawns (about 1/2 cup, shelled)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• Warm water (to keep moist)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil (palm oil preferred)

Seasoning

• Salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• A couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• A pinch of MSG (optional)

Method

Heat oil in wok. Add garlic and prawns and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add eggs and lightly break them as they are frying. Before eggs become completely fried / dried up, add ridge gourd and coat the ridge gourd slightly with whatever uncooked eggs remaining.

Stir well and add seasoning. Sprinkle some water to keep moist. Don’t overdo on the water as the ridge gourd will ooze out much water during the cooking process. (I overdid it and the dish was semi-floating just like the picture above.) Cover with lid and stir every 30 seconds or so.

Cook till ridge gourd has turned green and soft enough to your liking. Serve hot with white rice.

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Stir-Fried Ridge Gourd with Eggs and Prawns

I have been away from this blog for more than 10 days! Oh my! Recently I have been swamped by work and many other commitments that I have not had the time to update this blog with what I have been eating. Trouble is, I have been eating pasta a lot these days and they don’t really qualify as Asian food. Nevertheless, once in a while, one of our family favourite recipes will pop out and the dish will be laid on the table.

Egg Flower Minced Pork Soup is a simple soup with only 3 ingredients – eggs, minced pork and onions. If you have these three ingredients, you are all set to roll. Cooking time is basically measured by the time taken to bring water to boil and cooking the minced pork. So, it is a soup which can be cooked in a jiffy. The soup may not look at all appetising judging from the photo I took above but the soup can be rather tasty.

This is the recipe for Egg Flower Minced Pork Soup

Ingredients

• 100 grammes of minced pork
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1 large onion (sliced or chopped)
• chopped spring onions for garnishing
• 1 1/2 soup bowls of water (approximately 400 ml)

Seasoning

• Light soya sauce
• Salt
• White pepper powder

Method

Marinade minced pork with 2 teaspoons of light soya sauce for 15 minutes or more.

Bring water to boil in a pot. Using a teaspoon, scoop minced pork teaspoon by teaspoon into the boiling water. Then add onions.

When minced pork starts to float (indicating they are cooked), stir in the beaten eggs. Add seasoning to taste, garnish with chopped spring onions and serve immediately.

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Egg Flower Minced Pork Soup

What’s that up there? Just a simple pork omellette. I was at two minds whether to post this ridiculously simple recipe over the net. I am sure this recipe is known by so many people and it bothers on embarrassment to put it up here. But then again, so are most of the recipes here, which are basically simple and common dishes cooked at homes. So, I thought maybe, just maybe, it might be something new to someone.

You should try to use a non-stick frying pan for this recipe and have real patience to cook it so that you can have a really nice piece of omellette which is firm to the bite, yet juicy.

This is my recipe for Pork Omellette

Ingredients

• 150 grammes of pork mince
• 3 large eggs
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons Cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• a dash of worcestershire sauce

Method

Combine garlic, minced pork and eggs in a bowl. Beat till mixture is even.

Heat oil in frying pan. Pour mixture onto pan and gently stir mixture for about 15 seconds.

Reduce to low heat and let omellette cook for 5 minutes or until upper layer almost dried up. Using a wooden / suitable plastic spatula, “loosen” the omellette from the bottom of the pan so that it can slide on the pan. Then, gently flip the omellette over and cook for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot. However, it still tastes good even if it’s cold.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Pork, Omellette, Malaysia

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Pork Omellette