Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Southeast Asian Scrambled Eggs #Recipe by Mia P. Manansala @MPMtheWriter

To me, eggs are the MVP of budget cooking: they’re relatively cheap and healthy, they’re tasty, and there are a huge number of ways to prepare them. Nothing beats the simplicity of a crispy fried egg with runny yolk (seriously, I put it on top of just about anything for a complete meal—gotta have that protein!), but when I’m craving something different, I turn to another staple: the humble scrambled egg. 

Southeast Asian scrambled eggs on rice with a side of cabbage kimchi

Eggs and rice are one of my top three comfort foods, and pretty much what I survived on for the three and a half years I lived abroad alone and needed to save money. I learned this simple recipe from my best friend, who’s Cambodian American and always served this with a healthy dose of hot sauce on top. Substituting fish sauce for salt is such a simple, but indescribably delicious move, and the bit of sugar ties it all together. My BFF would often top it with sliced green onions or fried shallots and garlic, but I love it with a side of kimchi. Other people I know like to mix in some chopped tomato. Whatever your topping preference, I hope you give this recipe a try!


Southeast Asian Scrambled Eggs


Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • ½ tsp fish sauce
  • ¼ tsp granulated sugar
  • Lots of freshly ground black pepper
  • Thinly sliced green onion (optional)


Directions:

  1. Crack the eggs in a bowl and whisk together with all the other ingredients plus a splash of water until well-combined.
  2. Heat a small pan (nonstick is best) over medium/medium-high with oil or a pat of butter until hot.
  3. Pour in the egg mixture and tilt the pan so it covers the bottom in a thin layer.
  4. Let the egg cook until you see the bottom layer set, then use a spatula or wooden spoon to push the cooked egg into the center so that the uncooked egg flows into the empty space of the pan.
  5. Continue doing this until there’s no more raw egg flowing into the center and the egg is only slightly wet on top. Turn off the heat and either let the eggs finish cooking to a soft consistency in the residual heat, or flip the egg over to make sure it’s fully cooked.
  6. Serve on top of white rice or with buttered toast, with hot sauce and any other additional toppings or sides you desire.
  7. Enjoy!

Cast of characters: granulated sugar, fish sauce, black pepper, eggs

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add all the other ingredients.

Add a splash of water and whisk the eggs until well-combined.

Heat a small, nonstick pan over medium-high heat until hot, then pour the eggs in.

Once the bottom layer has set, use a spatula or wooden spoon to push the cooked egg into the center of the pan, letting the raw egg flow into the empty space.

Continue push the cooked egg into the center until no more raw egg is flow and the top is only slightly wet. Turn off the heat and allow the egg to finish cooking in the residual heat. You can also flip the egg over if you like your eggs completely cooked.

Serve over rice or with buttered bread. Enjoy!

What are your favorite egg dishes? Let me know in the comments!



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Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie’s Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.
 
Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can’t bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt’s Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.
 
To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila’s little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago—a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next.

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6 comments:

  1. Thank you for the recipe, Mia. The only way I eat eggs is scrambled. I'll have to try your recipe! ~Maya

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    Replies
    1. My husband also only eats scrambled egg (I've tried to get him into runny yolks, but no dice) so this is one of the few ways I prepare eggs that he'll actually eat. Hope you like it!

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  2. Mia, your recipes have been SO encouraging to me in my quest to learn to prepare Asian cuisine. I think I'm in a phase of Asian fusion now. Fish sauce, hoisin sauce, mirin, calamansi ~ all are in my pantry & nerdy as it is, I'm excited about that. I haven't opened the fish sauce yet so this recipes for eggs is perfect! Thank you for the mysteries you write and for the new world of Filipino food you've introduced me to.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Linda! I love introducing people to new-to-them foods, and I hope you find some new favorites. Another great pantry staple I'd recommend is sesame oil: just a tiny drizzle adds a wonderful flavor and aroma to rice, noodles, etc.

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  3. We visited Hawaii 20 years ago and I was introduced to the idea of rice at breakfast. Rice and runny eggs are wonderful! Love the runny yoks.

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    1. Filipino breakfasts often include rice and fried eggs, so I've loved this combination since I was a kid. So simple and yummy!

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