Indonesian Coconut Chili Eggs: Gluten Free, dairy free and delicious

Just because you can’t eat gluten or dairy doesn’t mean your culinary life has to be dull. My dad hailed from Indonesia so we grew up eating sate, sajoer, nasi goreng, bami goreng,  hot fish, tofu, and all kinds of things like that. For those of you who can’t eat eggs (or don’t want to) you could easily replace the eggs with something like tofu, fish or chicken. There’s only two semi weird ingredients that are essential to this dish so if you’re not in the habit of keeping lemon grass or trassi in your pantry than it would be a good idea to go grab some at your local Asian grocery outlet.

I got this recipe out of the only Asian cookbook I own. It’s called The All Asian Cookbook by Jackie Passmore. I’ve used it for years and love it. It’s called Sambal Goreng Telur.

Here goes:

6 eggs

I medium onion

5 cloves garlic (I upped it from 2)

1 tbsp vegetable oil 3 tsps chili powder

1 tsp fresh grated turmeric or 1/3 tsp powder

2.5 cm or 1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced

1/2 tsp dried shrimp paste

10 cm (4 inch) lemon grass

1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1 1/4 cups coconut milk (thick)

1 medium tomato

Hard boil eggs and put in cold water. Mince onion and garlic and fry in oil until soft . Add chili powder, turmeric, ginger, shrimp paste or trassi, lemon grass and salt.. Saute for 2 minutes then pour in coconut milk and add tomato. Stir well and simmer for 5 minutes on moderate heat. Strain sauce through muslin or a fine strainer and return to pot adding peeled and halved eggs. Simmer for a further 6-7 minutes, then lift out eggs in a slotted and arrange on a serving plate.

There’s no doubt an official Indonesian way of eating this as part of a rice table for example. But if you just want to do something quick and easy this is perfect on it’s own served with rice, or for something a little fancier you can add satay or chicken skewers and peanut sauce (or tofu skewers) .add an easy salad of sliced tomatoes, cucumber and sweet onion with salt and lemon squeezed over top and you’re set.