Son-in-law eggs with sweet fish sauce

These deep-fried eggs, doused with a sticky sweet-and-sour tamarind sauce, are common street-side snacks in Thailand.

Son-in-law eggs Credit: China Squirrel

• serves

  3

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

The eggs are soft-boiled first, then deep-fried whole, without flour. We like to serve the yolk on the runny side, so that when you break into them, the yolk mixes with the sauce, but you can cook them a bit firmer - it's up to you.

Ingredients

• 6 free-range eggs, at room temperature
• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 2 red Asian shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 small dried red chillies, halved
• coriander leaves, to garnish
• steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Sweet fish sauce

• 60 g light palm sugar, grated
• ¼ red onion, roughly chopped
• ½ long red chilli, roughly chopped
• 1 cm piece ginger, roughly chopped
• 1 cm piece galangal, roughly chopped
• 1 lemongrass tips
• 1 lime leaves
• 100 ml tamarind water (see Note)
• 50 ml fish sauce
• ¼ lime, zest only

Instructions

For the sweet fish sauce, place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir to dissolve the sugar, bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by one-third or thick and sticky. Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve and set aside, discarding the solids.

Place the eggs in simmering water and cook for 5 minutes for soft-boiled eggs. Remove immediately and place in a bowl of iced water. When cool, peel, place on paper towel and pat very dry.

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Deep-fry the garnishes, one ingredient at a time, making sure to scoop out all the bits between batches. Allow to drain on paper towel.

Deep-fry the eggs, in batches, until golden and crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel.

Divide the eggs among bowls or place on a serving platter. Drizzle over the sauce and garnish with the fried eschalot, garlic and chilli, and coriander leaves, and serve with the rice. 

Chef's note

• To make tamarind water, soak tamarind pulp in hot water, breaking apart clumps, for 10 minutes or until pulpy. Strain, discarding the solids. Or you can substitute tamarind concentrate. Both are available from the Asian aisle in most supermarkets or from Asian grocers.

Photography, styling and food preparation by China Squirrel. 

Jarrod Hudson is the head chef at Easy Tiger. This recipe is from The Chefs' Line - a brand new series airing weeknights at 6pm on SBS. Can the passion of a home cook beat the skills of a professional chef? Missed all the action? Catch-up online and get all the recipes #TheChefsLine.

This recipe has been edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the series.

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.

The eggs are soft-boiled first, then deep-fried whole, without flour. We like to serve the yolk on the runny side, so that when you break into them, the yolk mixes with the sauce, but you can cook them a bit firmer - it's up to you.