This is our favorite duck egg recipes (okay...maybe just one of our favorites!)....and I'm sure it works with chicken eggs too!
BACKGROUND:
Most of my cooking is inspired by two things: 1) the places I've travelled and 2) the ingredients that are available. As everyone here at Backyard Chickens no doubt knows, when you get into the backyard poultry game, eggs are an ingredient that are nearly always on hand. Of course we love scrambled eggs, omelets, frittatas, and other breakfast foods that are egg-centric, but we increasingly love making eggs the center-of-plate protein at dinner. While there is nothing wrong with breakfast-for-dinner, there are also a ton of other egg-cellent recipes to consider, and duck egg curry is one of our goto favorites.
When many folks think curry, they think India and Indian food, but so-called curries have made their way around the world to other countries, where they are influenced by locally abundant ingredients and cultural norms. The more you get to know curries, the more you come to appreciate that curry is a pretty useless term. While we can buy curry powder in the grocery, curry is not a single, easy-to-define entity. When we say "curry," what we're really talking about is an intricate blend of herbs and spices--think turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, fenugreek, and chilies, but don't rule out cardamom, mustard and cinnamon! Curry also doesn't refer to a single spice profile or to particular preparation. It is not always spicy, for example, and it may manifest as something like a stew or perhaps more like a sauce served with rice depending on the recipe.
As a journalist who covers fisheries at the intersection of science and sustainability, I've travelled a lot on assignment through very remote parts of southeast Asia. I've never actually been to Burma (Myanmar), but I've met several Burmese fisherman, and it's from them that I first learned of this duck egg curry recipe. Burmese food in general tends to lean toward savory and sour flavors instead of sweet and spicy (although there certainly are spicy Burmese dishes!). As such, you should expect many Burmese curries to be relatively mild, and this one will suit those who are not looking to sweat their way through their meal. While Indian curries often begin with a combination of dry spices that are blended together, southeast Asian curries often use fresh ingredients that are pressed together to make a paste. Unlike many southeast Asian curies, coconut milk is not a staple of Burmese curries, but fresh onions and garlic often are.
While you can certainly use chicken eggs for this recipe, the traditional recipe calls for duck eggs, which are very popular in Burma. The large, creamy, deep orange yolk of a duck egg is particularly well suited to this meal. Despite the fact that our silver Appleyard ducks (pictured above) have never been to Burma, they fully endorse this duck egg curry recipe!
The following recipe is for two people.
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 eggs (I plan on 1.5 to 2 per person depending on size)
Peanut oil
Sesame oil
.5 teaspoon turmeric
2 large shallots, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
4-6 tomatoes (depending on size), diced
1 tablespoon tamarind paste*
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fish sauce (or ngapi* if you can get it)
2 small fresh chili peppers, sliced long and thin**
DIRECTIONS:
1. Hardboil your eggs, peel and set aside.
2. Heat a blend of peanut oil and sesame oil in a large skillet (enough to cover the bottom to a depth of ~1/8 inch)
(2a. Optional: Fry some thin shallot slices to use as a topping for the finished dish)
3. When the oil begins to shimmer, add turmeric and stir.
4. Fry your hardboiled eggs in the turmeric-infused oil, moving them so that all sides take on the lovely turmeric color and the eggs get nicely blistered. When finished, remove the eggs from the skillet with a slotted spoon and cut them in half lengthwise. Place them on a paper towel.
5. Pour off most of your oil, and return your skillet to the heat.
6. Add your minced shallots and stir, cooking until they begin to turn translucent. Add your garlic and cook, stirring for about a minute more.
7. Add the tomatoes, tamarind paste and chili powder. Stir to blend all the ingredients together.
8. Reduce the heat and allow the dish to cook down (~10 minutes), stirring occasionally.
9. Add fish sauce (or ngapi) and the fresh chilis. Stir to combine.
10. Nestle the eggs (cut side down) into the tomato sauce. Turn up the heat and cook an additional two minutes.
We like to serve this meal topped with cilantro and the optional fried shallots. Flatbread and a ginger salad rounds out the meal.
NOTES:
* Tamarind paste is pretty easy to find these days (you can even order it on Amazon), but if you don't have any, you can instead use a blend of one tablespoon of vinegar and one tablespoon brown sugar. Alternatively, just add two tablespoons of lime juice.
** Ngapi is fermented shrimp or fish paste and is a common ingredient in Burmese curries.
*** You can adjust the heat of this dish with the chili peppers you use. Something like the red hot Burmese chili will give you heat (and be authentic!). Green cayenne peppers (immature red cayenne peppers) make a nice contrast with tomato-based sauce, and don't have as much heat as red cayennes. Long banana peppers are a mild option, and the long thin slices look lovely!
BACKGROUND:
Most of my cooking is inspired by two things: 1) the places I've travelled and 2) the ingredients that are available. As everyone here at Backyard Chickens no doubt knows, when you get into the backyard poultry game, eggs are an ingredient that are nearly always on hand. Of course we love scrambled eggs, omelets, frittatas, and other breakfast foods that are egg-centric, but we increasingly love making eggs the center-of-plate protein at dinner. While there is nothing wrong with breakfast-for-dinner, there are also a ton of other egg-cellent recipes to consider, and duck egg curry is one of our goto favorites.
When many folks think curry, they think India and Indian food, but so-called curries have made their way around the world to other countries, where they are influenced by locally abundant ingredients and cultural norms. The more you get to know curries, the more you come to appreciate that curry is a pretty useless term. While we can buy curry powder in the grocery, curry is not a single, easy-to-define entity. When we say "curry," what we're really talking about is an intricate blend of herbs and spices--think turmeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, fenugreek, and chilies, but don't rule out cardamom, mustard and cinnamon! Curry also doesn't refer to a single spice profile or to particular preparation. It is not always spicy, for example, and it may manifest as something like a stew or perhaps more like a sauce served with rice depending on the recipe.
As a journalist who covers fisheries at the intersection of science and sustainability, I've travelled a lot on assignment through very remote parts of southeast Asia. I've never actually been to Burma (Myanmar), but I've met several Burmese fisherman, and it's from them that I first learned of this duck egg curry recipe. Burmese food in general tends to lean toward savory and sour flavors instead of sweet and spicy (although there certainly are spicy Burmese dishes!). As such, you should expect many Burmese curries to be relatively mild, and this one will suit those who are not looking to sweat their way through their meal. While Indian curries often begin with a combination of dry spices that are blended together, southeast Asian curries often use fresh ingredients that are pressed together to make a paste. Unlike many southeast Asian curies, coconut milk is not a staple of Burmese curries, but fresh onions and garlic often are.
While you can certainly use chicken eggs for this recipe, the traditional recipe calls for duck eggs, which are very popular in Burma. The large, creamy, deep orange yolk of a duck egg is particularly well suited to this meal. Despite the fact that our silver Appleyard ducks (pictured above) have never been to Burma, they fully endorse this duck egg curry recipe!
The following recipe is for two people.
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 eggs (I plan on 1.5 to 2 per person depending on size)
Peanut oil
Sesame oil
.5 teaspoon turmeric
2 large shallots, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
4-6 tomatoes (depending on size), diced
1 tablespoon tamarind paste*
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fish sauce (or ngapi* if you can get it)
2 small fresh chili peppers, sliced long and thin**
DIRECTIONS:
1. Hardboil your eggs, peel and set aside.
2. Heat a blend of peanut oil and sesame oil in a large skillet (enough to cover the bottom to a depth of ~1/8 inch)
(2a. Optional: Fry some thin shallot slices to use as a topping for the finished dish)
3. When the oil begins to shimmer, add turmeric and stir.
4. Fry your hardboiled eggs in the turmeric-infused oil, moving them so that all sides take on the lovely turmeric color and the eggs get nicely blistered. When finished, remove the eggs from the skillet with a slotted spoon and cut them in half lengthwise. Place them on a paper towel.
5. Pour off most of your oil, and return your skillet to the heat.
6. Add your minced shallots and stir, cooking until they begin to turn translucent. Add your garlic and cook, stirring for about a minute more.
7. Add the tomatoes, tamarind paste and chili powder. Stir to blend all the ingredients together.
8. Reduce the heat and allow the dish to cook down (~10 minutes), stirring occasionally.
9. Add fish sauce (or ngapi) and the fresh chilis. Stir to combine.
10. Nestle the eggs (cut side down) into the tomato sauce. Turn up the heat and cook an additional two minutes.
We like to serve this meal topped with cilantro and the optional fried shallots. Flatbread and a ginger salad rounds out the meal.
NOTES:
* Tamarind paste is pretty easy to find these days (you can even order it on Amazon), but if you don't have any, you can instead use a blend of one tablespoon of vinegar and one tablespoon brown sugar. Alternatively, just add two tablespoons of lime juice.
** Ngapi is fermented shrimp or fish paste and is a common ingredient in Burmese curries.
*** You can adjust the heat of this dish with the chili peppers you use. Something like the red hot Burmese chili will give you heat (and be authentic!). Green cayenne peppers (immature red cayenne peppers) make a nice contrast with tomato-based sauce, and don't have as much heat as red cayennes. Long banana peppers are a mild option, and the long thin slices look lovely!
