Half boiled Ramen Eggs (糖心滷蛋)

Ramen Eggs

I have a friend who loves half boiled ramen eggs. She frequents her favourite ramen shop for these. These days, it is rare to find ramen shops that still serve half boiled ramen eggs due to health regulations. Most of the time, you get hard boiled eggs with your bowl of ramen. 

Half-boiled Eggs

That chewy white with the soft wet yolk that almost melts with your ramen soup. Hmmm... perfect combination. As part of my ramen "making" series, I made these eggs earlier to pair with my instant noodles. Bits and pieces... I hope I would eventually get to making the actual ramen. ;p

In any case, these eggs are good enough to hold one captive on its own! Simply good on its own. I love eggs... :)

糖心滷蛋

Recipe

3 Large Eggs (Room temperature)

3 Cups Water

1 Tsp Salt

1/4 Cup Soy sauce

1 Cup Water

3 Tbsp Mirin

3 Tbsp Sugar

1. Bring 3 cups water and salt to a boil.

2. Use a spoon or ladle, gently transfer eggs into the water. Make sure eggs are sitting in a single layer.

3. Cook eggs for 6 ~ 8 minutes on middle heat. Cook time varies with the heat and pot use.

4. Immediately soak eggs in cold water to prevent further cooking.

5. Mix soy sauce, 1 cup water, mirin and sugar. Whisk until sugar is incorporated. Set aside.

6. Soak a piece of paper coffee filter or cheesecloth in the soy sauce mixture.

6. Gently peel the eggs. Place eggs in a bowl in which they fit snugly in a single layer.

7. Pour soy sauce mixture over the eggs.

8. Place the soaked coffee filter or cheesecloth over the eggs. 

9. Soak eggs for at least two hours at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.

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Tips & Tricks

1. The cooking time varies with the number of eggs, temperature of your raw eggs, your saucepan and stove heat. Experiment with the cooking time - starting at the 6 minutes and giving 30 seconds forward. Time starts when all eggs are added. When I use a larger pot and it took me 8 minutes to get the eggs to half boiled stage vs. for a smaller pot, it took me 6 minutes.

2. You can use an egg timer to help with the cooking. If you use the egg timer, transfer eggs to cold water once the indicator reached the 3/4 mark between soft and medium. The internal heat of the eggs will continue to cook the eggs as they cool in the cold water.

3. For softer whites, do not soak the eggs in soy sauce for more than 2 hours. The longer the eggs are soaked, the firmer the whites.

4. Be gentle while peeling the eggs. They are very fragile as the insides are still watery and soft.

5. If eggs are undercooked after peeling, you can return them to a pot of boiling water and cook further for about 3 minutes.

6. Use room temperature eggs. Eggs fresh out of fridge will crack once they hit the boiling water due to the sudden change in temperature.

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My Japanese Kitchen

For a picture of Mirin, please refer to my Chasu recipe.

Perfect Egg Timer

Egg Timer

After several unsuccessful attempts to make half-boiled eggs. I decided to get the egg timer. 

The first time that I used this, the eggs turned out over-cooked with some strange chemical smell. Very disappointing. I wanted to return it but my husband insisted on keeping it as it was too much trouble to return a $5 item online. 

It was sitting in the drawer for weeks, before I decided to give it another try. This time, the eggs turn out slightly undercooked but that weird smell no longer exist.

The third time, it works like a charm. Learning from my prior failures, I removed the eggs once the egg timer reaches the 3/4 mark between soft and medium. They turn out perfect and beautiful. There is no weird smell. 

I guess this was this was a keeper after all. 

If you are getting one, cook the gadget once in salt water to get rid of the chemical smell. Clean it completely after that and let it cool before using it again. Due to the difference in temperature between the egg and the timer, it best to experiment a few tries for the perfect time to cook the eggs. You can buy the timer online on Amazon for US$5.

Homemade Salted Eggs

Salty egg yolks

My mother-in-law has been making her own salted eggs since she moved to the United States. My husband told me once that it's the easiest thing to do but I never gotten round to learning from her.

Rack of fresh eggs

With the blog up, I decided to ask her for the recipe for making them and it's indeed the easiest thing to do. =) The keys to making salty egg yolks are fresh eggs and a good quality cognac. Earlier this week, my mother-in-law told me the salted eggs that I made last month were ready for use. Since I was making mooncakes, I decided to incorporate them into the mooncakes. 

Pretty egg yolk

Grabbing a few, I was happy to see the beautiful yolks shimmering amongst the whites when I cracked them open. Time to make some mooncakes!

Recipe

12 fresh chicken eggs (Dry with paper towel)
1/4 cup Cognac
3 cup salt

1. Pour cognac into a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Pour salt into a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Roll one egg in the cognac. Make sure the egg is coated with the cognac.

4. Roll the wet egg in salt. Make sure the egg is coated with salt.

5. Place egg in a ziplock bag.

6. Repeat until all eggs are coated with salt.

7. Pour all remaining salt into ziplock bag.

8. Seal ziplock bag. Write the date of manufacture on the bag.

9. Place ziplock bag in an airtight container.

10. Leave container in a dark and dry place for one month.

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Tips & Tricks

1. The egg yolk will be hard when ready.

2. The eggs need at least one month to be ready. Do not open the bag during this period.

3. When eggs are ready, you can keep unused ones in the same ziplock bag. These have to be consumed within one month when it's ready.

4. Do not put eggs in fridge.

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My Asian Kitchen

 

This is a bottle of cognac that my mother-in-law used for the eggs. It's key to use a good quality cognac. The cognac gives the salted eggs an additional fragrance. You should be able to get a bottle of this at Bevmo.