Son-in-Law Eggs: Thai Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs in Tamarind Sauce Recipe (2024)

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Sour, sweet, and salty, this dish represents what people love about Thai cuisine.

Leela Punyaratabandhu

Leela Punyaratabanhu is a food writer, recipe developer, and award-winning author specializing in Thai cooking. She has written three cookbooks: Simple Thai Food, Flavors of the Southeast Asian Grill, and Bangkok, which won the 2018 Art of Eating Prize.

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Updated December 05, 2022

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Why It Works

Palm sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind pulp combine to make a complex and deeply-flavorful sauce that's sweet, salty, and sour.
A garnish of fried shallots and sliced chiles add both crunch and just a touch of heat to the finished dish.

What's with thenameof this dish? Is that what you're thinking? Well, even if you aren't, I'll tell you about it anyway.

And here's what I can tell you:I have no flippin' clue.

Interviews with my Thai friends and family members have yielded various conjectures regarding the origin of this dish's name. They range from the laughably absurd to the yeah-maybe-but-nahh.

But the conclusion is thatnobody knows.True, it's probably unfair for me to base this conclusion on a small sample of people whose intelligence may be called into question based solely on the fact that they either share my genes or consider me a friend. But, really, I doubt anyone else is any more or less clueless about this name issue than these people.

Son-in-Law Eggs: Thai Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs in Tamarind Sauce Recipe (2)

Out of all the conjectures, two stand out as the most plausible. Okay,fine. They're not the most plausible; I just like them more than the rest.

One theory rests on the golden color of the hard-boiled eggs that have been deep-fried and thoroughly doused in a deep golden-colored sauce. With the Thai culture being quite entrenched in symbolism, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the golden color, which reminds one of actual gold, is linked to wealth, something the parents of a woman naturally hope for in their future son-in-law.

Son-in-Law Eggs: Thai Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs in Tamarind Sauce Recipe (3)

It's actually the other theory that I really like. It paints a much grimmer, or shall I say more gruesome, picture. But that's precisely what makes it appealing. The Thai word for "egg" (as in the kind of egg laid by the female of various species) is the same as the word for the, uh, male reproductive glands that come in pairs.

Now visualize an egg—and we're going to be ambiguous as to where exactly in the semantic range of the word this occurrence of "egg" falls—being boiled, deep-fried until blistered and browned all over, whacked in half with a cleaver or methodically andslowlysliced open with a sharp chef's knife (possibly with the slicer laughing maniacally while slicing), then having a sticky sauce poured on top of it in the manner of hot melted asphalt on the surface of your new driveway.

Son-in-Law Eggs: Thai Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs in Tamarind Sauce Recipe (4)

"Here's what's going to happen to you, boy, if you mistreat our daughter," seems to be the message that the parents of a woman want to send their future son-in-law. If the guy doesn't run away in terror, with his hands covering the part where his pant inseams meet, then I guess that guy is considered worthy of the daughter.

All you really need to know is thatson-in-law eggs are very loved by the Thai people.It's one of those down-home dishes you don't usually find at fancy restaurants in Thailand; you find them mostly at no-frills rice-curry shops or school cafeterias. For sure, you hardly ever find them at a Thai restaurant in North America.

Son-in-Law Eggs: Thai Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs in Tamarind Sauce Recipe (5)

It's a dish worth trying or at least being familiar with, for it captures so very wellthe sour, salty, sweet flavors associated with traditional Thai foodwithout the burning heat that is often mistaken as the necessary component of "authentic" Thai cuisine.

April 2012

Recipe Details

Son-in-Law Eggs: Thai Fried Hard-Boiled Eggs in Tamarind Sauce Recipe

Active20 mins

Total30 mins

Serves4 servings

Ingredients

3 large shallots, peeled and sliced thinly lengthwise
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for deep frying
8 large eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
1/2 cup very finely-chopped palm sugar, packed or 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Thaifish sauce
2 tablespoonsprepared tamarind pulp
3 tablespoons water
2 red jalapeño peppers or half a red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into slivers, for garnish
Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions

Add sliced shallots and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil to a small skillet set on low heat (it is imperative that you add the shallots to cold oil lest they burn before crisping up). Stirring constantly, cook shallots until they are golden brown and crispy. With a slotted spoon, transfer fried shallots to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside.
Add enough oil to a medium saucepan so that it comes up about 2 inches high. Place pot on medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, gently drop hard-boiled eggs into it. Stir eggs around to ensure even browning. Once egg exteriors are thoroughly browned, fish them out with a slotted spoon, slice them in half with a serrated knife, and arrange halved eggs on a serving platter.
Discard oil from the skillet in which you fried the shallots and set the skillet on medium heat. Add sugar, fish sauce, tamarind, and water to it; bring mixture to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Once sugar has fully dissolved, check for consistency. The sauce should have the consistency of maple syrup. If at this point the sauce is still too thin, reduce it a bit more. If it is too thick, add a little more water to thin it out. Once you have the desired consistency, remove skillet from heat and pour sauce over prepared eggs.
Sprinkle fried shallots over the top of the eggs. Garnish with red pepper slivers and cilantro leaves. Serve son-in-law eggs with steamed jasmine rice.

Notes

It's more traditional to use palm sugar. But if you don't have it, brown sugar can be used to create very similar results. The one component that should not be left out, however, is the fried shallots.

Quick Sides
Fried Eggs
Boiled Eggs
Quick Snacks

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
407	Calories
29g	Fat
23g	Carbs
15g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	407
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 29g	37%
Saturated Fat 5g	23%
Cholesterol 373mg	124%
Sodium 1547mg	67%
Total Carbohydrate 23g	9%
Dietary Fiber 2g	7%
Total Sugars 18g
Protein 15g
Vitamin C 8mg	39%
Calcium 92mg	7%
Iron 2mg	12%
Potassium 384mg	8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)