Kai Pa Loh – Eggs Stewed In Gravy

Pa Loh is a kind of Chinese food, which consists of boiled eggs, tofu, pork and uses Chinese Star anise, cinnamon and other spices to pound and mix well together, and is then stewed until almost dry. It could use either duck or goose as the main protein. Pa Loh has a sweet and salty taste, it is a flavor from stewing the palm sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce. Pa Loh is also called by the type of protein that the dish is made with such as Kai Pa Loh – Eggs Stewed, Bped Pa Loh – Duck Stewed, and Moo Pa Loh – Pork Stewed, etc.

Ingredients

• 7 eggs or can use duck eggs also (In this case I can not find duck eggs so I use regular eggs instead)
• 500 grams (1 pound) streaky pork (aka back bacon)
• 10 pieces dice sized Tofu, fried to inflate (optional item)
• 4 Tbsp white soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp black soy sauce
• 250 grams (8 ounces) palm sugar
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 3 Chinese Star anise
• 2 pieces Cinnamon, 2 inches long each
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp coriander root
• 3 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tsp Pepper seed
• 1.5 liters (6 cups) water
• 2 stems coriander, coarsely chopped for garnishing

How to do…
1. Rinse eggs thoroughly. Add water and salt into the pot and put on the stove over medium heat. Boil the eggs in that pot until they are cooked and turned to hard boiled eggs. It usually takes about 10-12 minutes. Then lift the pot off from the stove and drain the water out. Soak the cooked eggs in cold water and peel off the shells. (Putting a little bit of salt into the water while boiling the eggs will help with shucking the egg shells, and make the shells come off easily).
2. Rinse the streaky pork thoroughly. Prepare the pork by cutting it into rectangular pieces approximately 1.5-2 inches thick.
3. Pound coriander root, garlic and pepper seed together until fine.
4. Turn on the stove to medium heat. Add the oil into the pan and wait until the oil turns hot. Then add pounded coriander root, garlic, and pepper into the frying pan, stir fry to fragrance (1-2 minutes).
5. Add palm sugar into the pan and stir until it melts down. Follow with prepared streaky pork, hard boiled eggs, fish sauce, black soy sauce, and soy sauce.  Stir well together.
6. Transfer everything into a 3 or 4 quart pot. Add 1.5 liters of water, Chinese Star anise, cinnamon, and cumin. Wait until the water starts to boil then lower the heat down to low heat. Stew for about 45 minutes then turn off the heat and lift the pot off the burner.  In case that you want to add fried tofu in your Pa Loh, please add in 15 minutes before turning off the heat.
7. Put Pa Loh into a bowl, garnish with chopped coriander and serve.