Deep-fried egg
A crispy, golden egg dish popular across Asia, from Filipino street food to Thai son-in-law eggs.
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A deep-fried egg is exactly what it sounds like: an egg cooked by submerging it in hot oil. The yolk alone can be used, known as deep-fried egg yolk.
Overview
Chicken, duck, and quail eggs all work. It may be eaten on its own or used as an ingredient in other dishes. Sometimes, eggs that have already been cooked are coated in breading and then fried.
The usual method is to crack raw eggs directly into hot oil, then continuously spoon the white over the yolk to keep it covered. Another technique uses two spoons to roll the egg in the oil after spooning, which helps create a uniform shape and color. As it cooks, the white turns into a crunchy, hard crust around the yolk. Salt and pepper are common seasonings.
For deep-fried egg yolk, the yolk is sometimes breaded before frying. When breaded, the outside becomes crunchy while the inside stays molten, soft, and creamy.
This is often served as an appetizer. Pre-cooked eggs—like poached or boiled eggs—can also be breaded and fried. All versions can be a main dish, a side, or a topping, such as on a salad.
Deep-fried egg dishes
Deep-fried eggs appear in several dishes. In Indonesia, balado tahu telor combines deep-fried eggs, deep-fried tofu, and chili peppers. In the Philippines, tokneneng is a tempura-like street food made from hard-boiled chicken or duck eggs coated in orange-colored batter (from annatto) and fried. Kwek-kwek is similar but uses quail eggs.
Balut—a developing duck embryo—can be boiled in the shell and then deep-fried, sometimes served on a stick. Thailand’s son-in-law eggs (kai look keuy) are hard-boiled eggs deep-fried and served with a sweet-and-sour caramel sauce; folklore says the dish is a symbolic warning to a son-in-law who mistreats his wife, the eggs representing fried testicles. Even deviled eggs can be breaded, deep-fried, and served hot.
Hazards
Making this dish can be dangerous. Dropping raw cracked eggs into hot oil can cause the oil to erupt and splatter, leading to serious burns or a fire. Using pre-cooked poached eggs that are well-drained of water is a safer option.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Egg dish
- Common eggs
- Chicken
- duck
- quail
- Known dishes
- Balado tahu telor
- tokneneng
- kwek-kwek
- son-in-law eggs
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The deep-fried egg is a popular dish in Asia. In Thai folklore, some sources state that son-in-law eggs are served as a warning to a mother's son-in-law who is mistreating his wife, or as a warning to a future son-in-law to not mistreat his wife, in which the dish is served to the son-in-law, with the eggs symbolically representing fried testicles.
Reader's Guide
A typical deep fried egg preparation is to crack the eggs directly into a container of heated cooking oil and then continuously spooning the egg white around the yolk to keep the yolk covered. Another method involves using two cooking spoons to continuously roll the egg in the oil after the egg white spooning process, which can assist in creating a consistent shape and coloration. As the egg cooks, the egg white transforms into a crunchy, hardened crust that surrounds the egg yolk.
It is sometimes seasoned, such as with salt and pepper. Deep fried egg yolk is sometimes prepared using breading on the yolk, which is then deep fried. When breaded, the surface of the dish is crunchy, and the interior can be molten, soft and creamy.
Using pre-cooked eggs, such as poached or boiled eggs, they also sometimes are coated in breading before the deep frying. Preparation of this dish can be dangerous, because when raw cracked eggs are dropped into hot oil, the oil can significantly erupt and splatter onto the cook or onto a hot stove burner, causing serious burns and potentially starting a fire. Using pre-cooked poached eggs that are well-drained of water can be a safer means of preparation.
More in Filipino cuisine
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Deep-fried egg (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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