Name: Egg Sambal (Sambal Telur) Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 large Onion (peeled and chopped roughly); 5 no Shallots (peeled and left whole); 15 no Kashmiri Dry Red Chillies (or to taste); 8 cloves Garlic (peeled and left whole); 1 inch Ginger (peeled and sliced); 4 tbsp Sunflower Oil; 4 tbsp Water; 4 large Eggs (hard boiled); 1 tbsp Sunflower Oil; ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder; ½ tsp Black Pepper Powder; ½ tsp Turmeric powder; ½ tsp Salt; ¼ cup Sunflower Oil; 1 tbsp Tamarind Paste; 1 tbsp Jaggery or Brown Sugar; 1 tsp Salt (to taste); 1½ cup Water; 1 large Onions (peeled and sliced into rounds); 2 no Green Chillies (slit)

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Egg Sambal also known as Sambal Telur is a popular Malaysian dish made with boiled eggs cooked in a spicy chilli, onion, ginger and garlic sauce. It is slightly sweet, tangy and spicy perfect to pair with appam or idiyappam.

Egg Sambal Recipe

One of my favorite cuisine of all time is Malay foods. I love the deep flavours and spicy taste in their dishes. I have tried many version of Malay recipes including the popular Nasi Lemak, Malaysian Fried Noodles, Ayam Goreng and many more.

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About Egg Sambal
Ingredients
Step by Step Pictures
Expert Tips
FAQ
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The main component in a Malay cuisine is sambal. Sambal is nothing but spicy chilli, onion, ginger and garlic cooked together with tamarind, sugar, salt till it gets paste like and oil separates on top. You can literally add it over anything and everything.

About Egg Sambal

Egg Sambal is also known as Sambal Telur. Telur means Egg, boiled eggs cooked in a spicy and flavourful chilli sambal. It is like a red curry which is super addictive specially when served over coconut rice, or appam.

The curry looks so red, it may frighten some people. But actually it is not that spicy. The colour for the curry comes from the dry red chillies. If you use Kashmiri red chillies, then they are milder and provides rich red colour.

Also the sambal has tamarind, salt, jaggery which balance the taste so well, it makes it quite addictive.

Similar Recipes

Traditionally sambal made in Malaysia uses dried anchovies as their flavour base. But whenever I make sambal, I skip that because I am not a fan of it. I make it with basic ingredients like onions, shallots, ginger, garlic, tamarind, sugar and salt.

The role of dried anchovies is to provide umami taste, so you can add a touch of MSG or mushroom seasoning to add the umami taste.

And if you are a fan of anchovies, you can use that in this sambal. This is how you do it. Once you fry the eggs, remove it to a bowl. Then add in cleaned dried anchovies and fry till crispy. Remove it and set aside. Then proceed with the sambal recipe as mentioned, add the anchovies in the end when you add eggs. Thats it sambal telur with anchovies is ready.

For authentic Malaysian sambal taste, One thing you have to keep in mind is to take your time when making sambal. It takes more time to cook down and also use extra oil when cooking sambal.

Oil helps preserve sambal and also enhance the taste. More over it reduce the spicyness of sambal. You can make the sambal paste in bulk and store in fridge for upto a month.

Since making sambal is the most time consuming part, once it is ready you can use that to make variety of dishes like my sambal chicken, Malaysian mango salad.

Ingredients

Eggs - I used regular eggs which are hard boiled. You can increase the amount of eggs in this recipe. And for a change you can use quail eggs as well.
Dry Red Chillies - You can use Kashmiri chillies or regular chillies. Kashmiri chillies are milder and provides rich red colour.
Onions and Shallots - onions and shallots is used in the sambal paste. Sliced onions is added in the end to the sambal to provide texture.
Ginger, Garlic, Chillies - these provide the flavour to the sambal paste.
Tamarind Paste - Tamarind adds the tangy taste to the sambal. I am using tamarind pulp or paste. You can soak fresh tamarind in water, squeeze and extract the pulp and use the tamarind juice also.
Salt and Jaggery - totally to your taste, so always taste and adjust it.
Oil - be generous with the oil. I used regular sunflower oil.

Step by Step Pictures

1)Soak Dry Red chillies in hot water for 10 minutes. You can use Kashmiri chillies or regular chillies. Kashmiri chillies are milder and provides rich red colour.

2)Take all the ingredients mentioned for sambal in a blender. I used onions, shallots, ginger, garlic, dry red chillies.

3)Add in 4 tablespoon oil and 4 tablespoon water to grind to a slightly coarse paste. Set aside.

4)In a wok Heat 1 tablespoon oil, add in boiled eggs and roast in the oil. Sprinkle salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and pepper powder to it and mix well. Remove the roasted egg to a bowl and set aside.

5) Now in the same wok. Heat ¼ cup of oil and add in the sambal paste and cook for 5 minutes.

6)Now lets add in the flavourings. I am using tamarind pulp or paste. You can soak fresh tamarind in water, squeeze and extract the pulp and use the tamarind juice also.

7)Add in salt and palm jaggery. Instead of jaggery you can use brown sugar or sugar.

8)Cook till oil separates. It will take around 10 minutes.

9)Take your time to cook this mixture.

10)Now pour in water and mix well. You can add as much water as possible.

11)Cook on low heat until oil separates on top.

12)Now add in the sliced onions, green chillies into the sambal.

13)Cook for 2 more minutes until the onion is slightly wilted.

14)Add in the roasted eggs and mix well till it is coated in the sambal.

15)Sambal telur is ready to enjoy.

16)Serve with rice, roti, appam or idiyappam. Taste great in nasi lemak.

Expert Tips

Use large wok to cook the sambal, since it cooks down faster.
You can add chopped tomatoes into this curry if you want.
Instead of using boiled eggs, you can crack open eggs directly in the sambal and cook.
Using extra oil, preserve the sambal for a longer period of time.

Storage and Serving

You can make the sambal paste in bulk and store in fridge for upto a month. Enjoy Sambal with appam , idiyappam, Nasi Lemak or coconut rice.

FAQ

Q: What Should I use instead of anchovies in my sambal?

The role of dried anchovies is to provide umami taste, so you can add a touch of MSG or mushroom seasoning to add the umami taste.

Q: I want to add anchovies in my sambal, how do I proceed with it?

This is how you do it. Once you fry the eggs, remove it to a bowl. Then add in cleaned dried anchovies and fry till crispy. Remove it and set aside. Then proceed with the sambal recipe as mentioned, add the anchovies in the end when you add eggs. Thats it sambal telur with anchovies is ready.