Khai Luk Koei - Son in Law Eggs

One of my favourite dishes in Thailand is 'khai luuk kheuy' or "son in law eggs". You can find them at bus stations and other street kitchens around the country. Deep fried eggs are topped with a simple sweet tamarind sauce and crispy shallots. The story behind the name of the dish is as follows: “A mother-in-law will cook these for her son-in-law if she thinks he is being unkind to her daughter. It will remind him that his family jewels could well end up fried on a plate if he doesn’t clean up his act.".

When you eat at these street side places you pick 3 or 4 different things on a plate with rice. I always make sure to get "son in law eggs" and a coconut curry dish, and mix them together. The creamy coconut sauce and the crispy eggs go great together, so when I make this dish for people, I use a red curry coconut sauce instead of the traditional tamarind one.

The dish is very easy to make. Soft boil some eggs, peel them and pat dry. Deep fry the eggs in a couple of centimeters of hot vegetable oil until the outer white browns and expands into a crisp honeycomb texture. Place on a serving dish, spoon on some Thai coconut curry sauce, chopped peanuts and shallots. When you break into them the yolk  should still be a bit runny and enrich the sauce.


Here is my recipe for

Red Curry Coconut Sauce:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1 tsp chopped lemongrass
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar or palm sugar
• juice of 1 lime

1. Take half the coconut milk and reduce it in a pan until it splits into oil
2. Fry the curry paste and lemongrass in the oil for a minute
3. Add the rest of the coconut milk and remaining ingredients
4. reduce again until a creamy consistency