Sweet and Sour Boiled Eggs

This dish, called Kai-luk-lei (ไข่ลูกเขย), actually translates to “son-in-law egg.” Eating this dish always leads to lots of witty jokes.. We don't eat it too often because I've been told it “doesn't have enough flavor for Thais.” This is probably because its quite a sweet dish, without another strong 3 thai flavors: spicey, sour, and salty. A Thai dish is good if it contains at least two of those flavors at the same time.

Ingredients: ส่วนพสม

boiled eggs ไข่ต้ม
palm oil น้ำมันพืช
dried chili peppers พริกแห้ง
shallots หัวหอมทอด
2-3 tbsp. coconut sugar นำ้ตาลปี๊บ
1/2 – 1 cup water นำ้
1 tsbp. thai seasoning รสดี
3 – 4 tbsp. tamarind sauce นำ้มะขาม
salt เกลือ

Directions:
1. Boil 6-8 eggs and let cool.
2. Fry the eggs whole in palm oil for about 5 minutes.
3. In the same oil fry the chili peppers quickly, about 5 seconds.
4. Set the chili peppers to the side (without the oil).
5. Discard all but 3-4 tbsp. of oil and fry the shallots (about 5-7 sliced) until golden brown and crispy.
6. Add the coconut sugar. If you like it on the sweeter side you can add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.
7. Add the water and thai seasoning.
8. Add the tamarind sauce. To make it fresh take a tamarind fruit and put it in a bowl of about 1/3 cup of water. Squeeze it to get the juice out until the water is concentrated and the fruit is soft. Discard the fruit. If you don't have fresh tamarind you can use prebottled sauce.
9. Add salt or fish sauce to taste.
10. Slice the eggs in half and pour the sauce over. Add the chili peppers on top and garnish with Thai coriander or other herb.