25/02/2021
Century egg, a thai ingredient?
We have commonly regarded century egg as exclusively Chinese. Something that you mix in congee, or add to seaweed jelly to make salad. Always served sliced.
Paano ba ginagawa ang century egg? Someone told me, nung bata ako, (probably to discourage me from eating it) na nilulubog daw ito sa horse urine solution. (false!) for 100 days, hence the name (false uli!). That fake info never fazed me. I’m one of those who love the pungent-smelling dark brown egg. Pero ayun nga, we only see them served in chinese restos.
But way back in 2000, I asked Khaek to cook Thai dishes that are not the usual “touristy” fare. Cook something that’s not pad thai. Khaek thought about it and said, “I’ll cook something that I miss having.” Yes, sabi ko. Cook something homesickening, haha.
So off we went to the grocery and he took a tray of century eggs and then Japanese silky tofu. You sure you’re cooking a Thai dish? He added basil to the cart. I wondered what this dish is going to be.
The first thing he did was to fry the century eggs. Dahan-dahang kumulubot ang surface ng eggs and they turned even darker. He did the same thing with the tofu. And ayun ang naging main attraction ng kanyang thai krapow.
Sapak.
In the few times I’ve been to Thailand, never ko na-encounter ang dish na ito. Until later, when I went to Chiang Mai and was served this wonderful krapow (basil) dish. Krapow is a simple stir-fried dish that can take the form of the main ingredient. Pwedeng chicken, or beef, or pork – sliced or ground, with century eggs, tofu. Pwede ring mushrooms, with noodles, or seafood. Khaek tries out different things. One of the best for me is his krapow mixed seafood… with crab claws.
But yes, with century eggs, krapow gets elevated to another level.
