'E' is for Oology

Granted, oology is the study and or collection of eggs, but nowhere does it state that you can't eat them.

Recently one of our neighbours (who is one of the most generous, loveliest ladies I've met) started introducing us to a few Thai delicacies. This one reminds me of the first bottle of shampoo I purchased here, both in colour and in pleasant surprise.

This is khai yiao maa – (ไข่เยี่ยวม้า) literally ‘egg urine horse’ or commonly known as Century Egg. Usually duck eggs are chosen and undergo a lengthy preservation process borrowed from the Chinese, which doesn't involve any equine pee. However you do get a definite (short lived) whiff of ammonia when peeling them, so I imagine the intensity of their odour during the fermentation process would be enough to knock you off your feet. Quite pretty really!

The shells of Century eggs are often dyed pink, so they can be distinguished from your run of the mill variety, at the markets. Ours had their natural pale grey shell colour intact. Inside they're black, slightly rubbery and with a transparent (now reddish) white, and below and behold, they taste like egg. Nothing scary about them at all, especially when tossed into a spicy salad with pork broth dressing.

They don't come anywhere near the hột vịt lộn Stray ate in Saigon, as far as 'are you really going to eat that?' factor goes.

Ms P advised that due to laziness, and I suspect time and profit margin, that modern day Century eggs can be a health hazard if consumed too often. Wiki explains it better than I do.  Next, the salted egg (ไข่เค็ม) khai khem...salty and eggy, and would go well on crackers, with a beer.

Son-in-law eggs or khai luk koei (ไข่ลูกเขย) deep fried boiled eggs in a sweet/savoury sauce. Mothers are said to serve these up to their son-in-laws should they start to misbehave ...as a reminder of what fate his family jewels may befall....or the less colourful explanation is that new husbands prepare this dish to impress their mother-in-laws. Hmmm, young, newly wed men cooking?

Slightly chewy and plastic like on the outside, from frying and basically just take up the flavour of the sauce they're served in.

Lastly, this one makes it into oology, because it contains eggs and it's really, really nice. Steamed pumpkin stuffed with Thai custard (egg, sugar and coconut cream) (sang kha yaa fak thaawng - สังขยาฟักทอง)

Pumpkin is in the catabolic food group, meaning it takes more calories to digest, than it contains...therefore after the pumpkin takes care of its own calories, it'll burn off the sugar and fat in the custard too. Good theory, or what?????

Yet to be eaten collected: roasted egg, or khai ping (ไข่ปิ้ง). Whole chicken eggs, often threaded on a skewer, gently cooked in their shells on a grill , over charcoal.

Snap's other blog Chiang Mai Thai