Indonesian Fried Eggs in Coconut Milk

This is one of those dishes that sounds like a strange combination but is surprisingly delicious. The protein in the eggs is enough to serve as a main dish and just so happens to be naturally gluten and dairy free! I like to serve this over white rice because the sauce just needs something to soak it up for easier consumption. The other nice thing about this recipe is that the spice level is totally scalable. If you struggle with spice, add the amount of sriracha that I list (making it very mild), but if you like heat, just keep adding!!!

I would recommend serving this with some stir fried vegetables or as I recently did, with an Asian slaw. The cold crunch is a nice compliment to the rich eggs. The chicken on the right in the picture above is a recipe that needs some refinement. I'll publish that once I've figured it out!

Ingredients:

8 Hard boiled eggs, peeled and set out to dry 6 large shallots, minced 1 Red Bell Pepper, cut into medium sized strips (1 inch long and relatively thin) 4 large cloves of garlic 1 Tbs of sriracha (you can use any red chili paste. Sambal Olek is my favorite, but not everyone keeps that in the pantry) 2 (15 oz) Cans of Coconut Milk 2 (ish) cups of vegetable oil for frying (you may need more depending on the size of pan you decide to use)

Direction:

Place a Tbs of vegetable oil in a small saucepan and heat over high heat. Add the shallots and bell pepper and sauté until they are translucent. Add the garlic and Sriracha and sautee until fragrant (1 minute)

Add in the two cans of coconut milk and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so. You’re looking for the flavor to develop and for the coconut milk to reduce a bit, creating a thicker sauce.

While the sauce is simmering, place the 2ish cups of oil in a deep saucepan and place over high heat. The oil should be about 3 inches deep in the pan, so as to cover the eggs while they’re frying.

Heat the oil it is shimmering. If you use a thermometer, it should be in the 350 degree range.

Place your peeled hard boiled eggs in the oil, a few at a time. Fry them for about 4 minutes each. You want the outside of the egg to look uniformly golden, but not deep brown. The nice thing here is that the eggs don’t really absorb much of the oil, so don’t worry about the frying time impacting the fattiness of your end product.

Once the eggs have reached that golden hue, remove them to a paper towel to drain.

Once you have finished frying the eggs and they have drained, place them in the sauce and let simmer for 5 more minutes.

Serve over steamed white rice. Shoot, brown rice would be good too!

EnJoy!