Thai Recipe: Son-In-Law Eggs

(Click on the image above to view the complete photoset of 3 pictures) This past weekend, our neighborhood Ralph was giving away free eggs--a carton of 18 large eggs. Being the cheapo shopper that I am, I didn't pass up the opportunity, of course. I have always loved eggs and I do shop at Ralph, plus more eggs mean I can experiment with some baking and make my favorite egg dishes such as this and this. I did bake, but failed two times and wasted 8 eggs! I am not going to get into the excruciatingly painful and embarrassing details about my baking debacle (I am still in agony), but there was one thing that I did successfully with my eggs--this Thai recipe of son-in-law eggs... (Don't ask me about the name. I am puzzled. Why aren't they daughter-in-law eggs? Hmmm, I smell gender discrimination.) Anyway, these son-in-laws eggs are very good eggs. It's a simple dish with lots of flavor--tangy, savory, syrupy, and a little spicy. The taste is similar to my Malaysian sweet and sour eggs, but the eggs are first hard-boiled, deep-fried, and then topped with tamarind sauce. The sauce was so good that I practically had to dabble the very last bit of it--leaving not a single drop--with my fingers! Yeah, I kid you not. I suspect the same tamarind sauce would go every well with deep-fried fresh water prawns, but that is another post. ;) If you like what you see, please also checkout my related egg recipes and Thai food recipes below: Malaysian Sweet and Sour Eggs Stir-fried Eggs with Red Onions and Shrimp Tom Yum Goong Pandan (Screwpine Leaf) Chicken Thai Yellow Curry As the main ingredient of this post is eggs, I am entering this to CLICK: Oct 2007 Food Photography event hosted by Jai and Bee. Thai Recipe: Son-In-Law Eggs Adapted from Thai Cooking Made Easy Ingredients: 4 boiled eggs (shelled) 2 big shallots (finely shredded) Oil for deep frying Scallion or cilantro for garnishing Tamarind Sauce 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce (or to taste) 2 tablespoons palm sugar (or to taste) 4 tablespoons tamarind juice (use about a small ping pong ball size of tamarind pulp and mix with water to extract the juice) 1 glove garlic (minced) 1 teaspoon dried chili flakes 1 tablespoon ground peanut 1 tablespoon oil Method: Deep-fried the eggs until the skin turns brown. Dish out and slice into halves. Arrange them on a plate. Deep fried the shredded shallots until golden brown, remove and place on paper towel to absorb oil. Heat up a sauce pan, pour in the oil and saute the minced garlic until light brown. Add the dried chili flakes, ground peanut, do a quick stir, and follow by the tamarind juice, palm sugar, and fish sauce. Bring it to boil and pour the sauce on top of the eggs. Top with fried shallots and scallion/cilantro. Serve hot with steamed white rice. Cook's note: Thai Cooking Made Easy (written in both English and Chinese) is a practical cookbook for Thai food. I have tried many of the recipes on the book and love the authenticity and flavors. A must-have for people who love Thai food. Buy now!