Mai

I was making trứng dầm nước mắm (the Vietnamese dipping sauce where you smush a hard boiled egg in fish sauce, commonly paired with boiled vegetables, particularly boiled cabbage) when I thought: Hmm, what if I made a crossover of this and Korean mayak eggs?

Mayak Gyeran (a.k.a. “drug eggs”) are addictive soft-boiled eggs marinated in a delicious combination of soy-based sauce, garlic, peppers, and sesame seeds.

And so an idea was born. For the marinade, we’re of course replacing soy sauce with fish sauce to Vietnam-ify it. Since fish sauce is a lot saltier than soy sauce, we need to thin it out quite a bit with water. To balance out the saltiness, I turned to sugar and vinegar.
With fish sauce, water, sugar, and vinegar- this is essentially an altered version of our Vietnamese nước mắm chấm dipping sauce that is served with many dishes like Nem rán.

For the aromatics, we cannot go wrong with: garlic, shallot, and ginger- the quintessential trifecta of Vietnamese cooking, along with some green onion for freshness and bird’s eye chili for a Southeast Asian spicy kick.

I initially eyeballed the quantities for everything and adjusted by tasting. The eggs can be cooked to your preference. Mine is jammy soft-boiled, so I cook my eggs for 7 minutes.

The result did not disappoint. Beautiful umami, sweet, and salty flavors. I especially love the flavor of the ginger and the crunch of the shallot. 100% a successful eggs-periment!

I have remade this recipe many times since then and these are the quantities that suite my taste. However, this is the kind of recipe that you should absolutely adjust to your preference!

INGREDIENTS FOR TRỨNG NGÂM NƯỚC MẮM

• Eggs – Trứng: Since these eggs are best soft-boiled, it’s important to use good quality eggs since that will have a big impact on your final result. My preference is pasture-raised eggs with large orange yolks. I mainly make this recipe with chicken eggs, but you can definitely use duck eggs (I would marinate for at least 36 hours) or quail eggs (I would try one after 12 hours and decide if you want to marinate longer).
• Fish sauce – Nước mắm: The liquid gold that is omnipresent in Vietnamese dishes but does not often get to be front-and-center, except for in dipping sauces. Like our Cánh gà chiên nước mắm (fish sauce wings) and Đậu phụ rán tẩm hành (Fried tofu with scallions and fish sauce) recipes, this recipe lets our favorite pantry staple be a main character.
• Rice vinegar – Dấm gạo: We normally use white rice vinegar in Vietnamese cooking, but for this recipe- I like using black rice vinegar for the extra depth of flavor and color.
• White granulated sugar – Đường cát trắng
• Shallot – Hành khô/Hành tím
• Garlic – Tỏi
• Ginger – Gừng
• Green onion – Hành lá
• Bird’s eye chili – Ớt hiểm

DIRECTIONS FOR TRỨNG NGÂM NƯỚC MẮM

1. Boil the eggs to your preference. I recommend jammy soft boiled: 7 minutes for cold eggs from the fridge.
2. While the eggs cook, prepare a bowl of ice water.
3. Transfer eggs to the bowl of ice water immediately. Let sit to cool for easy peeling.
4. Thinly slice shallot.
5. Mince garlic.
6. Cut ginger into very thin matchsticks. First, slice the ginger into ~1mm slices. Then, layer up a few slices and cut into ~1mm-wide strips.
7. Cut green onion greens in 1 cm lengths.
8. Slice chilis diagonally.
9. Add the fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, and water into a container. For 4 eggs, a 950ml/1qt glass container is the perfect size.
10. Stir until sugar has fully dissolved.
11. Add in the garlic, shallot, ginger, green onion, and chili.
12. Peel the eggs and add them to the marinade container.
    TIP: If your eggs are not fully submerged, you can add a small piece of clean paper towel on top. The paper towel will soak up the liquid, allowing the top of the eggs to also be exposed to the marinade.
13. Cover and let marinate in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

RECIPE VIDEO

Trứng ngâm nước mắm • Fish sauce marinated eggs

Course: SidesCuisine: Vietnamese, Korean, FusionDifficulty: Easy

Makes

4

eggs

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

7

minutes

Resting Time

24

minutes

A Vietnamese take on Korean mayak eggs. These jammy soft-boiled eggs are umami, sweet, and salty- with bold aromatics.

Ingredients

• 4 4 eggs

• 4 tbsp 4 fish sauce

• 4 tsp 4 white granulated sugar

• 2 tsp 2 rice vinegar (see Notes)

• 200 ml 200 warm water

• 20 g 20 shallot

• 10 g 10 garlic

• 5 g 5 ginger

• 25 g 25 green onion greens

• 2 2 bird’s eye chili

Directions

• Boil the eggs to your preference. I recommend jammy soft boiled: 7 minutes for cold eggs from the fridge or 6 minutes for room-temperature eggs.
• While the eggs cook, prepare a bowl of ice water.
• Transfer eggs to the bowl of ice water immediately. Let sit to cool for easy peeling.
• Thinly slice shallot.
• Mince garlic.
• Cut ginger into very thin matchsticks. First, slice the ginger into ~1mm slices. Then, layer up a few slices and cut into ~1mm-wide strips.
• Cut green onion greens in 1 cm lengths.
• Slice chilis diagonally.
• Add the fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, and water into a container. For 4 eggs, a 950ml/1qt glass container is the perfect size.
• Stir until sugar has fully dissolved.
• Add in the garlic, shallot, ginger, green onion, and chili.
• Peel the eggs and add them to the marinade container.
  TIP: If your eggs are not fully submerged, you can add a small piece of clean paper towel on top. The paper towel will soak up the liquid, allowing the top of the eggs to also be exposed to the marinade.
• Cover and let marinate in the fridge for 24-48 hours.
  

Recipe Video

Notes

• We normally use white rice vinegar in Vietnamese cooking, but for this recipe- I like using black rice vinegar for the extra depth of flavor and color.

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