Trung kho nuoc tuong gives you glossy brown eggs, balanced between salty and sweet, with yolks still soft when cut in half. It cooks fast and packs well into a lunch box. The hardest parts are peeling the eggs cleanly and braising them so the color clings evenly all the way around.
Boiling the eggs with a little salt and vinegar makes them easier to peel and less likely to crack. Medium heat lets the sauce thicken while the eggs are rolled through it, whereas high heat boils the liquid away before any color takes hold.
This batch weighs about 842g, at roughly 134 calories per 100g.
Method
Put 10 chicken eggs in a pot of cold water with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon vinegar, set it over high heat and stir gently. Once the water boils, cover and cook for 5 minutes, turn off the heat, let the eggs sit for 2 minutes, then peel them.
Mix 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 5 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1/4 teaspoon MSG and 1/4 teaspoon five spice powder into a braising sauce.
Set a pan over the heat with 2 tablespoons cooking oil. When the oil is hot, fry the white parts of the spring onion, 1 thinly sliced shallot and 1 sliced chili until just golden, then turn off the heat.
Add 1 teaspoon chili sauce, the braising sauce and 100ml water to the pan, turn the heat back on, and roll the eggs through until the color is even.
Lower to medium heat and braise until the sauce is syrupy and the eggs have taken on color, then turn off the heat, arrange them on a plate and scatter over spring onion, cilantro and black pepper.
Tips
Boiling the eggs with a little salt and vinegar makes them easier to peel and less likely to crack.
Peeling under a gentle stream of water carries the membrane away and leaves the surface smooth.
Medium heat lets the sauce thicken, and that is what makes the color cling evenly around each egg.
The glossy brown of this dish comes from the dark soy sauce, so there is nothing to gain from reducing the pan further to chase color.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so the sauce needs another stir after 5 minutes before it goes into the pan.
Eggs left to sit in the sauce overnight in the fridge take on much deeper flavor.
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.