Sambal—precisely cooked sambal—is a notably versatile and robust component in traditional Malaysian cooking. It’s the building block of many scrumptious and colorful Malay and Nyonya dishes and marries well with wide array of ingredients: seafood, tofu, eggs, and vegetables.
Once you master the skill of making a great sambal, you can prepare numerous variations of lusciously addictive sambal-laden dishes, for example: grilled fish with banana leaf, sambal eggplant, prawn sambal, or in this instance, egg sambal or sambal telur. Sambal has the virtue of adding layers of complex flavors to any everyday ingredients; it brightens up a simple ingredient and adds zesty, piquant, and tantalizing notes to the finished dish…(get sambal telur/egg sambal recipe after the jump)
Sambal telur or egg sambal is a Malay concoction. I usually fry up a huge batch of sambal in oil until it reaches the perfect texture, flavor, and consistency and then I’d store my sambal in the fridge for days or even weeks. To make sambal telur, I’d boil some eggs and then sauté them with sambal so they are nicely coated with it. Sambal telur is a quick and easy recipe but exceptionally pleasing!
Once in a while, I’d deep fry the hard boiled eggs so the outer layer of the eggs turns golden brown and crisp. This variation of sambal telur or egg sambal tastes even finer because of the mouthfeel of the eggs. Either way, sambal telur doesn’t disappoint.
Ingredients:
4 hard boiled eggs
2 – 3 tablespoons sambal
Cooked Sambal:
6 oz. fresh red chilies (seeded and cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon toasted belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste)
4 oz. shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar/palm sugar (or to taste)
4 tablespoons oil
1/2 onion (cut into rings)
Method:
Prepare the sambal by grinding chilies, shallots, and toasted belacan in a mini food processor. Make sure the sambal paste is well blended and smooth.
Heat up a wok with oil and “tumis” (sauté) the sambal paste and onion rings until aromatic or when the oil separates from the sambal paste. Add the seasonings: salt, sugar/palm sugar, and fish sauce and do a quick stir, dish out and set aside.
To make sambal telur, add 2-3 tablespoons of sambal back into the wok plus peeled hard boiled eggs. Make sure the eggs are nicely coated with the sambal. Dish out and serve hot.
Cook’s Note:
There are two types of sambal: raw/fresh or cooked sambal. Raw/fresh sambal is a tableside condiment, but cooked sambal is a flavoring paste used to create numerous sambal-laden dishes. Here is my raw sambal belacan recipe.
Related Posts:
- Sambal Belacan
- Sambal Asparagus Recipe
- Sambal Eggplant (Aubergine/Brinjal)
- Grilled Fish with Banana Leaf
- Calamansi
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
though, we love hardboiled eggs, it can be mundane sometimes..this looks like a great way to spice things up!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Well, hard boiled eggs are great if you know how to sauce it up with sambal or tamarind sauce. :)
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I like the version where the hard boiled eggs are slightly pan fried to make a crispy layer.. Sambal with boiled rice… just too good to say no!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yep, me too. Sambal telur rules!
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This is really mouthwatering! What a great way to make a completely new dish with eggs. I am definitely going to try making belacan with Kalamansi! What kind of red chilies do you recommend?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Marvin – yes, Holland chilies, the long red ones. They are available at H Mart, if not, the regular red and shorter version is fine.
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That looks delicious. I think I know what lunch will be tomorrow.
Do you do any prep beyond peeling and drying the eggs when they’re to be deep fried?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Vicki – no, just like frying other foods but be careful because the oil splatter a lot when frying hard boiled eggs.
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I love the deep fried sambal telur…. so soo gooodd….
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, deep-fried hard boiled eggs are so good. I don’t know why people don’t make them that way here in the US.
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Ahhh!!!! I love egg sambal!! Can easily down two bowls of rice with this dish alone!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Wow, two bowls of rice. But yes, egg sambal is good. :)
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I have to admit that I have never eaten egg sambal before, but oh my… This “Malay concoction” looks super yummalicious. I’ll need to pick up some shrimp paste to try it out, though. I can’t give it to my mom because she dislikes anything seafood (or made out of seafood). Little did she know (’till a couple months ago) that her favorite Thai Foods have tons of fish sauce… Now, she refuses to eat thai food. Sad, I know. But, oh well. I like the stuff. :D
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Kamran – yes, egg sambal is super yummylicious.
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Looks awesome. Is there any traditional vegetarian version of the cooked sambal, without the shrimp paste and fish sauce?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Michael – well, it will be very hard. I guess you can flavor it with salt but the sauce will not be as good though.
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mmmm…sambal telur and nasi lemak…yums….
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, sambal telur and nasi lemak, best!
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aiyoh, my mouth watering already. too bad can’t find any belacan here in Milan,Italy!! All we have are mainland chinese here! Must get it the next time I go home…
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Can you find fish sauce. You can use it as a replacement. Not as pungent and the flavor is not as complex but still good.
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That looks awesome. It’s a simple and incredible way to flavor boiled eggs. Thanks.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, sambal is the best ingredient to flavor boiled eggs.
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One of my favourite nasi padang accompaniments, second to sambal goreng! Thank you for the recipe.
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Yummy! I love this!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, me too.
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I made just the sambal this morning – d-eeee-licios. Even my four year old ate some for the flavour, reaching for water to calm the heat with every tasting! Good stuff.
The next thing I will try is to add dried shrimp…
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I am so excited to make this yummy egg sambal, but i am very confused at what kind of chili pepper to use. Any suggestions?
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