{Son In Law Eggs}

So the story goes if you are a thai dude and your mother in law puts this dish in front of you its a hint you are not being a good husband and its time to pull your socks up, I love that, you can just imagine the looks at the dinner table, its not very subtle. This was a nice end of summer dinner and fun to make as it included the challenge of peeling and frying soft boiled eggs, its a delicate operation which I undertook on a friday night after busy week, a couple of wines and with a two year old hanging off my leg.

Due to this the first time I made the dressing I made a tamarind toffee, its not going to take off as a new culinary discovery so watch your sugar carefully and add the tamarind and take it off the heat as soon as the sugar starts to disolve.

...the salad

8 freerange eggs

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp tamarind puree

1 tsp fish sauce

1 cup veg or peanut oil

1/2 sliced red chilli

2 tbsp lime juice

bunch of coriander

small bunch of mint

2 tbsp fried shallots

Place the eggs in a big saucepan of water and bring them to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and set the timer for two minutes, remove the eggs to a bowl of ice water, once cool gently peel them.

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar until it starts to melt then add in the tamarind and fish sauce and remove it from the heat.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep frypan until very hot then add in the eggs a couple at a time (it will spit a bit) turning till they are golden brown all over, drain on paper towel.

To serve stir the lime juice and chilli into the dressing, arrange the herbs on your plates top with halved eggs and generously spoon over the dressing finishing with a scattering of the fried shallots.