Sambal Telur - Eggs in Chili Sauce

Sambal Telur (eggs in chili sauce) is an Indonesian egg side dish. My blog has many recipes to prepare the chili sauce for hard-boiled eggs, but this is the easiest one and uses only common pantry ingredients, so everyone will be able to prepare this dish at home.

Although some may argue that this recipe is not as authentic as my other Indonesian egg dishes, I think this recipe is still good enough and retains a distinct Indonesian flavor.

If you are familiar with Indonesian pantry ingredients and would love the challenge to make more authentic egg dishes, you can try my recipes for Gulai Telur Padang, Sambal Goreng Telur, Telur Pindang, Telur Bumbu Bali, or Telur Balado.

Ingredients for Sambal Telur

• hard-boiled eggs
• coconut milk. I used canned whole-fat coconut milk.
• tomato ketchup
• shallot/onion. Shallot is preferable, but onion will work just as well.
• garlic
• ginger
• bird-eye chilies. Use as little or as many chilies as your heat tolerance dictates. You can use milder chilies too, like Fresno or cayenne.
• oil
• lime juice. You can also use lemon juice.
• salt
• palm sugar. You can use regular sugar.

How to cook perfect hard-boiled eggs

This is how I usually cook my hard-boiled eggs:

1. Place cold eggs from the fridge in a saucepan and add cold tap water to cover the eggs by an inch.

2. Heat the saucepan, uncovered, over medium-high heat until boiling.

3. Immediately turn off the heat and cover the saucepan with a lid. Set a timer for 12 minutes.

4. When the timer is up, drain the eggs and place them in a big bowl of an ice bath to cool the eggs.

5. Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, gently crack the shell and peel the eggs.

How to cook Sambal Telur

1. Cook and peel the eggs

First, start by cooking and peeling the eggs. You can do this ahead of time. I usually make this a day before I plan to make this dish. Please refer to my guide above if you need help with cooking hard-boiled eggs.

2. Prepare chili paste

Place shallot/onion, garlic, ginger, and chilies in a food processor. Puree into a smooth paste.

TIPS: If your food processor is not powerful enough and the paste remains chunky, add 1 tablespoon of water and puree again. The additional water should help to make a smooth paste.

3. Cook the eggs in chili sauce

Fry chili paste in oil over medium heat for 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Add tomato ketchup, stir, and cook for another minute.

Add peeled eggs, mix well, and cook for 2 minutes. Add coconut milk, mix, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for another 2 minutes.

Season with lime juice, salt, and palm sugar. Continue simmering for about 3-5 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and clings to the eggs.

Other Indonesian eggs dishes

If you prefer more traditional Indonesian egg dishes in chili sauce, you may want to try these recipes instead:

• Sambal Goreng Telur
• Telur Bumbu Bali
• Telur Balado

For more Indonesian egg dishes, why not give these recipes a try:

• Telur Pindang
• Gulai Telur Padang
• Opor Telur
• Telur Bumbu Kemangi