Thai Khai Luk Koei

The origin of the strange name “son-in-law’s eggs”, or “Khai Luk Koei” in Thai ( ไข่ลูกเขย ), is the subject of many stories in Thailand. There are both harmless stories and more malicious ones. But I don’t want to go into that in detail, I just want to tell you my personal story.

However, it is also quite harmless and boring, as I had already seen this famous Thai side dish, which can also be enjoyed as a snack or starter, in so many books, videos and groups on Facebook, but had never eaten it, let alone prepared it myself.

On the one hand, this was certainly due to the somewhat time-consuming preparation, but also because my list of Thai dishes to try is simply endless. However, last weekend I finally decided to give them a try. And lo and behold, although it takes a little time to prepare, it’s really easy and the result is delicious.

So delicious, in fact, that we made them twice that weekend in three different variations. I would now like to present them to you.

Preparation

The same preparations are necessary for all three variations, so I will summarize them here.

The first step is to put a pan of water on to boil the eggs in. Once the water is boiling, add the eggs and cook for at least ten minutes so that they are really hard.

In the meantime, peel the shallots and then cut them into very fine rings. Then cut off the stem of the chili and cut the rest of the fruit into narrow lengthwise strips and cut these in half. Finally, pluck the coriander leaves from their stalks and cut the leaves into small pieces.

The eggs should now have cooked long enough to be hard. Rinse them in ice-cold water and leave to cool for a while.

Meanwhile, deep-fry the shallot rings in a small pan with plenty of oil until golden brown. It is best to place the rings in the oil from the start and then heat it until it bubbles, this reduces the risk of the shallots burning during frying.

Then skim off the fried shallots and place them on a piece of kitchen paper. Do not dispose of the oil, we will need it for the eggs. Speaking of eggs, these should now be carefully peeled and kept ready.

Now heat the fish sauce with a little water in a second pan and then stir in the tamarind paste and palm sugar until both have dissolved. Allow this sauce to thicken until it has the consistency of syrup. Finally, turn off the heat but keep the sauce warm.

Secondly, add the oil used for frying to the pan until the eggs can be fried in it and then reheat. From this point on, the recipe varies and you can read below in three sections how to proceed.

First variation

n the first variant, the eggs are cut in half lengthways. And as soon as the oil is hot enough, the egg halves are fried until they are golden brown. The advantage of this is that the yolks are also fried. The disadvantage is that the yolks can fall out of the egg whites during frying and that the egg whites create a lot of foam.

Skim off the eggs and leave to drain and cool on a piece of kitchen paper. Then arrange the eggs on a plate and pour the sauce over them one by one. Garnish with fried shallots, chilli strips and coriander leaves and serve.

Second variation

In the second variant, the eggs are deep-fried in one piece until they are golden brown and slightly bubbly. This creates a crispy layer that is missing when frying the halves. There is also no need to worry about losing a yolk. This is definitely my favorite way of frying eggs, even though you may need a little more oil.

Then skim off the eggs and leave to drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Allowing them to cool is even more important here than before, as otherwise you could burn yourself when you cut the eggs open afterwards. Cut the eggs in half lengthways and then garnish with the sauce and the remaining ingredients.

Third variation

The last variation is an idea from Anne, who found the son-in-law’s eggs very reminiscent of Roman OVA ELIXA. And I have to agree with her, because even though the ingredients are different, both dishes work with the same flavor components: Umami, sour and sweet.

Her idea was to remove the yolks and, as with Roman eggs, mix them with some of the sauce and then put them back into the egg whites. This is also known as Russian eggs. She used one of the eggs that I had fried in one piece.

The stuffed egg is then poured over with the sauce and garnished with the other ingredients, as with the other variations. This variation was also delicious, but I personally liked the second version with the untreated yolk and the crispy coating the best.