Homemade Itlog na Maalat (Salted Eggs)

Been wanting to make salted eggs since I started the blog, but I just couldn't find fresh duck eggs anywhere. Duck eggs are a lot better to use in making salted eggs because of their tough shells which give them a longer shelf life. They also have larger yolk to white ratio compared to chicken eggs. As you know, it's the yolk that matters most in salted eggs so the large duck egg yolks would be better...but I'm not sure if I will ever find duck eggs here, so I decided to just use chicken eggs. As expected, the yolk of my salted chicken egg didn't turn out as creamy, granular, and oily compared to that of store bought salted duck eggs...but I tell yah, my daughters who weren't so fond of eating salted eggs, love it! Why? Because they weren't too salty. That's actually the best thing about making your own salted eggs at home. You can always control how salty you want them to be by doing a taste test starting at the 21st day after soaking them in brine. 

In the Philippines, the traditional way of making salted eggs is by the salted clay method, but using clay is a bit tricky, so I would not recommend that for homemade salted eggs. Brining method is more convenient and is the most commonly used way in making salted eggs at home. The only difficult part is waiting for 3-4 weeks to complete the brining process. I've read that Shao Hsing cooking wine could help produce brilliant colored yolk --- that, I gonna try next time. For now, I will enjoy the goodness of my homemade salted chicken eggs. Holy Week is here, so I could use some salted eggs to accompany the fish that we'll be eating the whole week. :)

Shrimp, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Salted Duck Egg Pasta

After a two-month break, Kulinarya Cooking Club Challenge is back with a very interesting theme for the month of February...and that is "PULANG ITLOG" (Red Egg) or what's also known as Itlog na Maalat (Salted Eggs) in the Philippines.

Like other Filipinos, I really enjoy eating itlog na maalat. I love it as a filling for pandesal, as a topping for bibingka and large ensaymadas, and as an accompaniment to any fried fish. When I was young, I loved eating it with daing na bangus for breakfast. I remember my mom slicing the salted eggs into wedges and serving it with diced onions and tomatoes and the fried daing na bangus. Hmmmm...that was one simple meal that never failed to satisfy my tummy! Having that on our table would always make me eat more rice than I usually do! 

For this month's Kulinarya Cooking Club Challenge, I decided to share a recipe that I created instead of the above mentioned ways that we Filipinos use salted eggs for. I call it Shrimp, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Salted Duck Egg Pasta. It's a simple pasta dish that uses itlog na maalat  both in the sauce and topping, and that gives it an interesting texture.