Salted Duck Eggs: Java

Travel anywhere in Indonesia and you will see duck eggs for sale and in particular, salted duck eggs.

They are considered daily fare and delicious. Although not to everyone’s liking, they are high in protein. In Brebes, North Java, salted duck eggs are becoming big business.

Salted duck eggs please the palate
Suryatini N. Ganie, Contributor, Jakarta

Salted eggs are daily fare in Indonesia, and the production of salted duck eggs can be found everywhere — in villages, towns and even in the suburbs of larger cities.

Customarily, the eggs are preserved by putting them in a salty mixture of rather finely ground brick and a special type of sand and left for at least 2 weeks in a cool and dry place. The main ingredient must be raw, perfect — no cracks — duck eggs scrubbed clean.

The best salted duck eggs made according to the above method are said to be found in places along the coast, because there, the brick and sand are mixed with natural seawater. Such a renowned place is Brebes, on the northern coast of Central Java.

Salted duck eggs is a major business there, with the people of Brebes selling their eggs throughout the archipelago and even to neighboring countries.

Though many still produce salted eggs using this traditional method, there is a more convenient way to make them. Just boil 600 grams of sea salt in 2 liters of water until the salt is dissolved. Let cool completely.Arrange 20 fresh, clean duck eggs neatly and carefully in a glass container. It is preferable to place the eggs straight with the pores on the upper larger sides so that the yolks will be in the center. Then pour the salted liquid carefully over the eggs. Close the lid tightly, and leave in a cool place for 14 to 19 days for the best results.

When ready for consumption, take out the eggs, clean and roll them on a soft cloth to distribute the salty flavor in the yolk and the white, then boil the eggs for 20 minutes on medium flame. Let cool and serve.

Some people undertake the rolling process on the 15th day, put the eggs back in the container and take them out on the 19th day. The eggs produced will then have a saltier flavor.

Most people eat salted eggs with steamed rice and sambal — Indonesian chili paste — but the eggs are also delicious with further preparation, like with stir-fried shallots, garlic, sweet soy sauce or kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) and other spices and condiments.

Duck eggs are also part of a special kind of regional menu — which is not considered perfect in its presentation and taste without them.

In East Java’s capital of Surabaya, one of the most famous local soups is rawon, made of beef stock and spiced with keluak, a nut with black flesh that provides a distinct flavor and a rather black color. Rawon is typically served with glass noodles, short mung bean sprouts and half a salted duck egg. Sometimes the soup is poured over a bowl of rice, but the soup and rice are also served in separate bowls. Rawon can be enjoyed for breakfast or as a light lunch, and it can also be served at dinnertime. The eggs and the rather tart taste of the mung beans are a perfect blend of flavors.

For those who like martabak — a kind of filled pancake — specify chicken eggs for the topping. Duck eggs are used for most martabak, and when poured onto the paper-thin pancake, they will have a distinctive taste when not spiced up with some curry, for example. But with a beaten chicken egg topping, the martabak (or murtabak in Singapore) will result in a considerably thicker product.

The Sundanese of West Java, on the other hand, serve thick and spicy duck-egg omelets with their indigenous dishes, which enhance their mostly raw vegetable dishes.

Whereas boiled or raw salted duck eggs can be obtained even in up-market supermarkets in Jakarta, raw, unprocessed duck eggs are mostly sold at traditional markets.

There are two kinds of duck eggs, the white-shelled kind from the Alabio duck and the greenish-blue-shelled ones from other species. The Alabio ducks’ original habitat are the swamps of South and East Kalimantan, but ducks of all types are familiar inhabitants of rivers and lakes all along the Indonesian archipelago.

Eggs are a good source of protein, and duck eggs are not to be overlooked in this sense.