Fried spiced soft boiled eggs (telur bumbu merah)

Lara Lee says her grandmother Popo cooked these soft-boiled eggs for her mother whenever she came to visit and her aunty Tje le in Kupang has since taught me the recipe. The peeled eggs are deep-fried, giving the exterior a wrinkled, pock-marked appearance that is textured and crispy. If you start with a soft-boiled egg you will get a custardy yolk in the centre.

Credit: Beyond Bali with Lara Lee

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• Sunflower oil, for frying
• 8 soft-boiled eggs, peeled (see Note)
• Sea salt, to taste

For the spice paste

• 4 candlenuts or macadamia nuts (see Note)
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 6 long red chillies, deseeded, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 small banana shallots (or 4 Thai eschallots), sliced
• 2 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 ½ tbsp light soy sauce

Instructions

1. To make the spice paste, place the nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Toast until golden, about 5 minutes.
   
2. Add the coriander seeds and reduce the heat to low, then toast until fragrant.
   
3. Place the toasted nuts and coriander seeds with the chillies, garlic and shallots in a small food processor and blend to a semi-coarse texture.
   
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the spice paste and fry for 10-15 minutes, or until softened and fragrant. Stir in the sugar, soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of water.
   
5. Fill a large saucepan one-third full with oil and heat to 160°C. (If you do not have a kitchen thermometer, check the oil is at temperature by adding a cube of bread; it should turn golden in 25-30 seconds.)
   
6. Deep-fry the peeled, soft-boiled eggs until golden on the outside, then transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and season with salt.
   
7. Add the eggs to the pan with the spice paste and return to the heat until the eggs and paste are warmed through. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Note

• Carefully simmer eggs immersed in boiling water for 6 minutes for soft-boiled.
• You can also substitute the candlenuts or macadamias for this recipe with 8 almonds or cashews.
• If you don’t want to deep-fry the eggs for this dish, alternatively you can shallow-fry in a smaller amount of oil in a large frying pan or wok. They won’t crisp up quite the same, but is a simpler, but still delicious method for preparing this dish.

Watch how to make this recipe on Episode 5 of Beyond Bali with Lara Lee, streaming free on SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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Beyond Bali With Lara Lee

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