Braised Egg with Potato Soup (Tumis Air Telur dan Kentang)

It’s been raining cats and dogs the past two days, at least so at the part of Singapore where I live in. Weather has been cooling too. The days before had been very sweaty. I don’t like it at all! Nuh-uh! Now that the weather is slightly cooling, it would be a great time to cook something soupy and perhaps something just a tiny bit spicy for my “you know who” (my beloved husband)! This is quite a common dish amongst the Malays. An old school dish but an all-time favourite for most, I think, at least for me. Being a food lover, I have many favourites of course… that’s why I'm never slim…haha!!

I remembered the time my mother cooked this dish when I was a kid. I love the braised egg in the soup. I like mashing the yolk in my “drowned in the soup” rice. I will scoop up all the rice with a spoon and finished them first then drink the remaining soup straight from my plate! How weird and gross, yes I know, but I don’t care. That’s how I like to have it. I want to savour the moments of eating and enjoying my moments in heaven on my dining table!! I love it that much! Well, I don’t just love food; I love the sight of food cooking in the pan or pot too!! That explains the step by step pictures on my blog! I just love looking at them. The pictures of cooking food make me hungry all the time. If only I can eat all the time too and… ehem..uh…remain slim! ;p

To make a long story just a bit shorter, I cooked a traditional dish which I would call in English “Braised Egg Soup with Potatoes” or in Malay, "Tumis Air Telur & Kentang" and to go along with that is the spicy bit for the cooling weather, Sambal Tumis Ikan Bilis which I would direct translate it as “Stir Fried Chilli with Anchovies”. I don’t know how else to phrase it so that it sounds any more English but I hope that is about good enough.

However, I am only sharing the soup recipe and shall leave the stir-fried chilli recipe for another post as I was too tired to take that many pictures. My younger 9 month old son has not been well and had been crying the past few nights disrupting my sleep. As a result there is a zombie walking (my downstairs neighbour would thank the plump zombie for not jumping!) around and cooking in the kitchen!

The ingredients are:

(*to be blended or pounded coarsely)
1 large onion*
5 garlics*
4 shallots*
2 red chillies*

5 potatoes - peeled and cut into fours
6 eggs
1 piece Knorr Ikan Bilis cube (optional)

2 packets of mixed dried beancurd sticks, black fungus (dried wood ear mushrooms), dried banana flowers and bean threads or "tang hoon" (you can get all of these readily packed in a packet at provision stores or supermarkets) - rinsed thoroughly and soaked in water

3-4 bowls of water (depending on the size of your bowl)

1 teaspoon sugar (I try to substitute "ajinamoto" or "msg" with sugar whenever I can, but I have ever tried combining them both, and the taste was splendid…hehe…;) so you decide)
salt to taste

(**as garnish)
fried shallots** (this is a must for me)
chinese celery** (optional)
spring onions** (optional)


Method:



1.  Heat up your pot and add the coarsely blended ingredients.  Saute for a minute.

2.  Add in the anchovies or ikan bilis cube and continue sauteing.

3.  Once the mix is fragrant and oil has collected at the gaps of your sauteing mix, you can now add in water.

4.  After adding water, you can also add in the potatoes.  My potatoes are busy diving in the soup, so you can't see them in the picture above.

5.  After about five minutes, you can break your eggs into the soup and leave them be.  Don't stir.

6.  Over medium fire, bring the soup to a boil.

7.  Now add in the dried beancurd skin.

8.  Add in the black fungus and bean threads.

9.  Stir and bring to a boil again.

10.  Off the fire and ready to be served (I like to sprinkle my garnish straight into the pot before serving).

Enjoy and Happy Kitchen-ing!!