Hard-boiled egg with soy sauce and black pepper
This is one of my favourite snacks: a hard-boiled egg with soy sauce and black pepper. It’s a great little snack when I’m feeling a peckish and craving a little something savoury. This can be at any time, really – morning, afternoon or night! Sometimes I eat a hot egg, freshly hard-boiled; sometimes I’ll eat a cold egg, straight out of the fridge. There are sometimes hard-boiled eggs in our fridge ready to eat because Jac will boil up a few eggs and keep them in the fridge ready for lunches and snacks. They’re good for a few days, which is how long they’d last anyway, with Jac and me there to raid the fridge and eat them. :P A splash of soy sauce and a cracking of fresh black pepper and my snack is ready to eat. I love the smell of the soy, pepper and egg – I always lean in close to the dish to breathe in the salty, peppery, savoury smell for a few delicious seconds before taking my first bite.
Sometimes a handful of pretzels, Smiths original potato chips or Pringles will satisfy a savoury craving, sometimes I just need the magic of egg and soy sauce. What’s your favourite little savoury snack?
Notes on egg, soy sauce and pepper
Although I like to eat my hard-boiled egg with soy sauce and black pepper, when I make what I call a Chinese omelette, which is simply egg beaten with soy sauce and pepper and then cooked in a frying pan, I always use white pepper. The white pepper is not negotiable – if there’s no white pepper, I won’t cook a Chinese omelette.
Similarly, if I eat a half-boiled egg, something I’ve loved ever since I was a little girl – I must use white pepper. A half-boiled egg is boiled only long enough so the egg is still liquid but the white is no longer translucent. You break the hot egg into a bowl, add soy sauce and white pepper to taste then eat it with a spoon or do what my Dad does, which is lift the bowl up and just drink it down. You must consume the egg before it gets cold, or it’s really quite gross! I know, I know, those of you who aren’t fans of runny or gooey eggs probably think a half-boiled egg sounds disgusting! :P Back in Malaysia, my late grandma used to make me a half-boiled egg for breakfast sometimes before morning school. A half-boiled egg and then bread and butter, or bread, butter and strawberry jam, and a cup of hot Milo, and I was ready for my day.
I guess my funny egg “rules” fall in the category of funny cooking quirks (and eating quirks), which we talked about in February – remember this post? More French toast (and funny cooking quirks).