For a fast and easy side dish, look no further than sambal telur. Featuring delicious hard boiled eggs coated in a hot and spicy sambal sauce, this amazing egg sambal recipe is perfect alongside curries or rice!
Why We Love This
Sambal telur is super fast and deliciously spicy. Just 5 ingredients, and it’s ready in 10 minutes!
These delicious sambal eggs are so versatile and can be served hot or cold. Enjoy as a side dish with dinner, then mash the leftovers and pop them on toast for breakfast or lunch.
Use the base recipe as is, or feel free to adapt the recipe to adjust the spiciness or make it sweeter to your taste. It’s so easy to add some extra veggies or tofu, or serve with rice to make it into a full meal.
Related: Dubu Jorim (Spicy Braised Tofu) / Miso Scrambled Eggs
What is Sambal Telur?
Sambal telur is a street food dish popular in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Sambal is the general name for chilli-based sauces or pastes found across Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and even Brunei. Telur means eggs in Indonesian and Malay.
There are said to be around 200+ variants of sambal in Indonesia alone! They’re generally sorted into two main types – fresh sambal or cooked sambal.
Fresh sambal is usually served as a condiment to add an extra kick of flavour and heat to dishes like nasi gila (crazy fried rice) or nasi lemak.
Cooked sambal is what you’ll find in recipes like today’s sambal telur or sambal udang (prawns), and can be used in soup bases, sauces or marinades.
What You’ll Need
- Eggs – We use regular chicken eggs but you could use any eggs you like.
- Sambal – To make this as easily as possible we use store-bought sambal oelek, which is more widely available in chain supermarkets or Asian groceries. Feel free to make your own (see below for a quick sambal recipe) or use any of your favourite sambal variations.
- Makrut Lime Leaves – (Formerly known as kaffir lime leaves). You can purchase these fresh, frozen or dried at your local Asian supermarket or online. We have a tree growing in our backyard, which also comes in handy for choo chee chicken! Substitute with a teaspoon of grated lime zest, a splash of lime juice or just leave it out.
- Onion – Adds a nice sweetness and extra caramelised flavour if you char the edges. Slice them however you like – rings or half moons for texture, or finely diced for flavour.
- Vegetable Oil – Such as canola oil or any of your favourite alternatives.
Simple Homemade Chilli Sambal Sauce
For a more intense, fresh flavour, it’s a great idea to make your own homemade sambal sauce. You can use either a food processor or mortar and pestle (even better if it’s a traditional Indonesian ulekan & cobek – flat stone mortar and pestle) and the following flavour-packed ingredients:
6 – 8 fresh red chillis
2 shallots
1 tbsp belacan (shrimp paste)
1 clove garlic
Grind or blend until smooth.
Tip: If you’re using a mortar and pestle, it’s a good idea to finely chop all the ingredients first, as this will give you a much smoother sambal.
How to make Sambal Telur:
- Place eggs in a medium saucepan of cold water, then bring to a boil. Once boiling, cook for 5 minutes for slightly soft yolks or 8 minutes for hard boiled. Drain and peel.
- Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent (around 1-2 mins). Tip: Don’t let them burn as it will change the flavour.
- Next, pop in your sambal paste and makrut lime leaves and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until the mixture has loosened and it’s nice and fragrant. Tip: If it starts to burn, turn down the heat slightly and add a little water.
- Finally, add the boiled eggs into the pan with the sambal and stir fry until heated through (2-3 mins should do it!).
Wandercook’s Tips
- Peeling Eggs – Give the boiled eggs a few taps first then roll them gently over the ridges on your sink’s draining board to loosen the shell from the cooked egg. Peel them under a trickle of running water to make this easier.
- Storage – Leftovers will last for 2-3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. We don’t recommend freezing.
FAQs
Not at all, you can cook the eggs however you like! There are a few common styles of this dish:
– Sambal telur pecah – Poach the eggs in the sambal sauce (cover while cooking to help them steam, you might also like to use extra sauce if you do). It’s a bit like a spicy shakshuka!
– Sambal telur hancur – Scramble the eggs and cook them in the sauce.
Sambal telur is a great side dish alongside Indonesian fish curry or bakwan jagung corn fritters. Serve on its own as a snack, or with rice as a simple meal. Leftovers are amazing the next day when mashed and served on toast or as a spicy filling for grilled cheese sandwiches.
To break up the heat, serve it with a cool drink like teh tarik (pulled tea) or teh c peng (three layer tea).
Variations
- Protein – Swap the eggs for tofu, chicken or a mix of your favourite vegetables etc. We think this would be amazing with fish cakes like Japanese chikuwa or Korean eomuk!
- Eggs – Fry the eggs in a little oil by themselves before adding them to the sauce to give them a crispier edge. Deep fry for a crispier coating. You could even air fry the eggs to use less oil.
- Add Coconut Milk – Add ⅓ cup of coconut milk or coconut cream to make it creamier and less spicy. If you don’t have either of these, you could add a little mayonnaise.
Want more Indonesian treats? These are some of our favourites:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil for cooking
- 1 onion small, sliced in thin rings
- 2 Thai makrut / kaffir lime leaves chopped finely
- 6 tbsp sambal paste homemade (see post) or store bought
Instructions
For the eggs:
- Place eggs in a medium saucepan of cold water, then bring to a boil. Once boiling, cook for 5 minutes for slightly soft yolks or 8 minutes for hard boiled. Drain and peel.4 eggs
For the sambal sauce:
- Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent (around 1-2 mins). Tip: Don’t let them burn as it will change the flavour.2 tbsp vegetable oil, 1 onion
- Next, pop in your sambal paste and makrut lime leaves and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until the mixture has loosened and it’s nice and fragrant. Tip: If it starts to burn, turn down the heat slightly and add a little water.6 tbsp sambal paste, 2 Thai makrut / kaffir lime leaves
- Finally, add the boiled eggs into the pan with the sambal and stir fry until heated through (2-3 mins should do it!).
Video
Recipe Notes
- Eggs – We use regular chicken eggs but you could use any eggs you like.
- Sambal – To make this as easily as possible we use store-bought sambal oelek, which is more widely available in chain supermarkets or Asian groceries. Feel free to make your own (see below for a quick sambal recipe) or use any of your favourite sambal variations.
- Makrut Lime Leaves – (Formerly known as kaffir lime leaves). You can purchase these fresh, frozen or dried at your local Asian supermarket or online. We have a tree growing in our backyard, which also comes in handy for choo chee chicken! Substitute with a teaspoon of grated lime zest, a splash of lime juice or just leave it out.
- Onion – Adds a nice sweetness and extra caramelised flavour if you char the edges. Slice them however you like – rings or half moons for texture, or finely diced for flavour.
- Vegetable Oil – Such as canola oil or any of your favourite alternatives.
- Peeling Eggs – Give the boiled eggs a few taps first then roll them gently over the ridges on your sink’s draining board to loosen the shell from the cooked egg. Peel them under a trickle of running water to make this easier.
- Storage – Leftovers will last for 2-3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. We don’t recommend freezing.
- Variations
- Protein – Swap the eggs for tofu, chicken or a mix of your favourite vegetables etc. We think this would be amazing with fish cakes like Japanese chikuwa or Korean eomuk!
- Eggs – Fry the eggs in a little oil by themselves before adding them to the sauce to give them a crispier edge. Deep fry for a crispier coating. You could even air fry the eggs to use less oil.
- Add Coconut Milk – Add ⅓ cup of coconut milk or coconut cream to make it creamier and less spicy. If you don’t have either of these, you could add a little mayonnaise.
Nutrition
26 Comments
Sarah @ Champagne Tastes
08/05/2017 at 10:32 pmI’ve never tried sambal, but I love spicy food!!! This sounds amazing- I wish I could eat it right off the screen!
Wandercooks
17/05/2017 at 8:27 amHahaha Sarah, you make us laugh! Love that you like spicy too – in that case, we definitely recommend using extra sambal and seeing if you’re up for the heat challenge!
Julia
08/05/2017 at 9:45 pmOh, wow! At first I wasn’t really sure about the recipe but when I read the ingredients for the paste I realized that these eggs would taste phenomenal!!! Now I need to find the shrimp paste! What an unusual recipe!
Wandercooks
17/05/2017 at 8:26 amHope you can find the shrimp past Julia! If not, you might be able to find the sambal pre-made on Amazon. 🙂
Cliona Keane
08/05/2017 at 9:44 pmOh wow these sound amazing! I love Asian cooking and boiled eggs so I think you may have just shared my ideal dish!
Wandercooks
17/05/2017 at 8:25 amHaha, that’s great to here Cliona. We love boiled eggs too – especially for breakfast because it’s so easy and quick. The sambal is sure to wake you up too!
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables
08/05/2017 at 8:58 pmYum! I’ve never had sambal sauce but it looks really flavorful! This recipe sounds awesome!
Wandercooks
17/05/2017 at 8:24 amThanks Liz, it is so flavourful! For such a simple dish, it’s amazing the complexity of flavours you have just from the combination of the egg, onion, kaffir and the sambal.
Bintu - Recipes From A Pantry
08/05/2017 at 6:15 pmI bet that chilli sauce packs a punch! Love this dish looks so fragrant and delicious
Wandercooks
17/05/2017 at 8:23 amOh it does Bintu! Depending on how much you love spice – it’s up to you if you halve the sambal amount…or double it!
Anne
08/05/2017 at 12:33 amOMGGG THIS LOOKS AWESOME! EGGS ARE MY FAVE and these flavors are just amazing!
By the way, I am so loving your blog right now! Everything looks soooo delicious!
Wandercooks
08/05/2017 at 5:10 pmHahaha oh Anne, you just totally brightened up our day! So glad you’re enjoying the blog and hope you enjoy your very own Sambal Telur – let us know how you go if you get the chance to cook it up!
Mark, CompassandFork
05/05/2017 at 6:07 pmI think one of the joys of cooking is to experiment with food from different cultures and sambal fits that category. I love making SE Asian dishes and this just looks to delicious not to try!
Wandercooks
08/05/2017 at 5:09 pmThat’s our passion in a nutshell hahaha 😀 There’s so much flavour in South East Asian cuisine, and so many amazing combinations to experiment with!
Igor @ Cooking The Globe
05/05/2017 at 5:22 pmI need to order that Sambal sauce because I hear it quite often but it’s not available in my country. These eggs look so simple yet so delish!
Wandercooks
08/05/2017 at 5:08 pmIt’s definitely a simple dish when you know how to make it, 5 minutes and you are in spice heaven haha. Good luck with sourcing your sambal, and feel free to try making your own version with the ingredients you can get your hands on. Knowing you, you’ll no doubt create something totally delicious!
Helene D'Souza
05/05/2017 at 4:28 pmI wish we could get shrimp paste in India, it’s just not common, except maybe online, but I doubt it being of a good quality. Most probably I will end up going to Bali or Thailand one day just to get shrimp paste. ^. ^ Your dry sambal looks great btw! 🙂
Wandercooks
08/05/2017 at 5:06 pmHey Helene, thanks for stopping by! Hope you’ll be able to give it a try 🙂 You could always try substituting the belacan for fish sauce (it’s best to double the amount of fish sauce used when you do this). It won’t be quite the same – after all, belacan has a rather pungent, unique aroma – but it will definitely help you get closer to the flavour you’re after in your sambal.
Brian Jones
05/05/2017 at 2:28 pmThat sounds awesome, I have a recipe for an ‘Indian’ boiled egg curry and it is a perfect combination of the fiery spices and the cooling effect of the eggs.
Wandercooks
08/05/2017 at 5:03 pmOoh that definitely sounds delish, would love to give it a try!
Brandi Crawford
05/05/2017 at 9:21 amI love eggs and I love spicy. This is definitely a recipe I should try.
Wandercooks
05/05/2017 at 9:28 amSounds like it was made for you Brandi, hope you enjoy!
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
04/05/2017 at 10:13 pmWe certainly love spicy and I could eat eggs morning, noon, and night. I’m pinning and will be making them soon. Great photos!! I want to grab the eggs and run.
Wandercooks
05/05/2017 at 9:27 amOh gosh us too Marisa, you won’t believe how many eggs we go through in this household haha! Sounds like you might just need to make up your own batch in secret – then you won’t have to share! 😛
carlos at Spoonabilities
04/05/2017 at 7:55 pmI never heard of this dish before. I’m a huge fan of international cuisine and use different spices. I will try this recipe. Thank you,
Wandercooks
05/05/2017 at 9:26 amSo glad we could prompt a new discovery – hope you like it Carlos, would love to hear what you think! 🙂