Balut quail eggs in tamarind sauce make a hot snack, with the sauce clinging around each egg, tangy, sweet, and gently spicy. Vietnamese coriander and roasted peanuts on top finish it. Boiling is the tricky part, since too long makes the eggs firm and the shells break when peeling.
Six to eight minutes and then straight into iced water makes the shells come away easily. The tamarind sauce only needs to cook to a light coat, as longer turns it harshly salty and scorches the pan.
This batch weighs about 877g, at roughly 167 calories per 100g.
Method
Wash 40 to 50 balut quail eggs, cover them with water, add a little coarse salt and vinegar, bring them to a boil, then lower the heat for 6 to 8 minutes. Lift them into iced water and peel them.
Soak the tamarind in hot water, mash it, strain out the seeds, and keep the paste.
Mix the sauce: stir 3 to 4 tablespoons of tamarind paste, 3 tablespoons of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 2 tablespoons of chili sauce until dissolved.
Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of pork lard in a pan, fry the 3 minced shallots and 3 minced cloves of garlic until fragrant, pour in the tamarind sauce, stir, and simmer gently until it thickens slightly.
Add the balut quail eggs, turn them gently so they take on the sauce, and add 1 teaspoon of annatto oil.
Mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with a little water and pour it in slowly, stirring until the sauce comes together.
Add the ginger strips, Vietnamese coriander, and chili, then turn off the heat and scatter the roughly crushed roasted peanuts over as you serve.
Tips
A fresh balut egg feels heavy in the hand and sinks when dropped in water.
Keeping the liquid from inside the eggs and adding it to the sauce deepens the flavor.
Iced water right after boiling makes the shells easy to peel with few breakages.
Shaking the pan rather than using chopsticks keeps the eggs from breaking up.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so let the mixed sauce stand 5 minutes and stir it again before it goes into the pan.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend does not brown into caramel, and the reddish brown color of the sauce comes from the annatto oil and chili sauce.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.