Golden Egg Curry

Name: Golden Egg Curry
Cuisine: Asian, Indian
Ingredients: 2 fresh green chillies (de-seeded and roughly chopped); 4 green finger chillies (1 roughly chopped and 3 left whole); 150 grams (approx. 5 small round) shallots (peeled and roughly chopped); 2 fat cloves garlic (peeled and roughly chopped); 25 grams fresh ginger (peeled and roughly chopped); 15 grams fresh turmeric (peeled and roughly chopped) or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; 2 x 15ml tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 stalk lemongrass (trimmed and bruised); 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk; 100 millilitres water from a freshly boiled kettle; 2 teaspoons Maldon sea salt flakes; 2 teaspoons tamarind paste; 4 large eggs (at room temperature)

Instructions

This magnificent addition to my eating life comes courtesy of Yasmin Othman (who has brought much deliciousness my way over the years) and I glow with gratitude every time I eat it. This — called masak lemak telur in Malaysian — is very far removed from the egg curries I remember from my early youth, and would much prefer to forget. What we have here are eggs poached in a rich, aromatic, turmeric-tinted, tamarind-sharp, coconutty sauce or soup. This has definite heat, but not eye-wateringly so. If you’d like it a bit milder, do not pierce the three whole finger chillies. And if you’d like it a lot milder, then you could de-seed the finger chilli that goes in the paste, and dispense with the whole ones in the soup. But even if, like me, you love fiery food, I don’t advise eating the whole chillies. I won’t stop you, but you have been warned.

Updated at: Sat, 27 Dec 2025 15:48:52 GMT