HOMEMADE ITLOG NA MAALAT

Ingredients:

• 12 duck eggs (or chicken eggs)
• 1 cup sea salt (or rock salt)
• 4 cups water
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 star anise
• 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns

Method:

1. Rinse the eggs and drain well. Set aside.
2. Put water and salt in a saucepan. Add star anise and Szechwan peppercorns. Bring it to a boil. Once the salt completely dissolves, turn off the heat. Let cool completely.
3. Pour in the wine and stir well.
4. Use a clean glass container, carefully arrange the eggs in the container. (Note: check every egg to make sure there are no cracks on it.) Pour salted water into the container and cover the eggs. You’ll notice some eggs above would float to the surface, so place something, like a little sauce plate on top of the eggs. The basic idea is to get all eggs submerse completely in the brine. Tightly cover the container and place at room temperature. The brining process normally takes 30 to 40 days. Label the start and finish dates on the container to remind yourself. After 30 days, take one egg out to cook and see if its taste is salty enough. If not, let the rest to brine for a few days more. If you’re satisfied, drain all eggs out and wipe dry. Keep them in an egg carton and place in fridge. The salted eggs can be kept for a few weeks in fridge.

Notes:

• Before placing the eggs in the container, do make sure all the eggs are not broken or have any cracks.
• If you don’t have star anise and Sichuan peppercorns, you can replace with any tea leaves you like when cooking the salted water. The egg shells would look darker, infused by the fragrance of the tea you used.
• The egg yolks would turn orange-red beautifully because of the effect of adding Shaoxing wine.