Salted egg potato chips. Salted egg custard buns. Salted egg croissants. Salted egg prawns. Salted egg chicken wings. Salted egg doughnut. Salted egg pasta.
Salted egg everything and anything! Even on social media people can’t stop talking about this latest craze hitting the local food scene.
There has been a significant demand lately for salted egg in restaurants, hotels and food catering services.
Traditionally, the process of making salted egg-flavored dishes is quite tedious—from buying the raw egg wrapped in mud to washing, breaking and separating the yolk from the white egg, and cooking and mashing the yolk to produce a thick paste.
The procedure takes about an hour or more—and that’s only preparing the salted egg paste that coats the main ingredient like prawns, chicken or pork.
To make things easier and meet the demand for this new flavor that has made Southeast Asians crazy over salted egg chips and salted egg-filled custard buns, Unilever Food Solutions Philippines (UFS) has launched Knorr Golden Salted Egg Powder. This new product helps cut the salted egg preparation by more than half the time.
“It’s so easy to use,” said chef Alan Wong, lead chef for Asian Sauces for UFS Southeast Asia and chef the cuisine of UFS Malaysia. “You just blend it with butter or margarine and any ingredient that you like and that’s it. This powder tries to put all the conventional process in one pouch.”
Unlike the typical salted egg paste whose shelf life lasts two to three days, salted egg powder is good for more than a week, said Wong. No need to refrigerate. It can stand even at room temperature.
Manufactured in Malaysia, Knorr Golden Salted Egg Powder was introduced in Malaysia two years ago. Since then it has been brought to Singapore and now, the Philippines. It’s made of dehydrated salted egg yolk and each pouch (800 grams) contains 68 salted egg yolks.
“Initially, some chefs and food establishments didn’t want to use the powder because they were used to making salted egg paste,” added Wong. “So, we tried to educate them to save on time and labor in the kitchen. Now, it’s a big trend in Malaysia and Singapore. The cafes and hotels now use salted egg powder to make salted egg muffin, salted egg doughnut and salted egg burger.”
Sweet sauce
Aside from the salted egg powder, UFS launched its newest Asian sauce, Knorr Rock Sugar Honey Sauce. Wong called it “the master sauce.”
“Making Asian sauces has never been so easy with this rock sugar honey sauce,” he said. “It gives any dish a nice sheen and aromatic sweetness.”
The rock sugar honey sauce can be used on its own or as a base sauce. It’s made from premium yellow rock sugar and real honey. It’s ideal for dishes like marmite chicken, glazed spareribs and honey sauce chicken. Wong said it has no artificial taste. No MSG (monosodium glutamate).
Filipino chefs’ version
To prove the versatility of UFS’ Knorr products, Wong showed various ways to use these ingredients in his own recipes during the launch at UFS’ Chefmanship Center in BGC.
He used salted egg powder for his Curry-Salted Egg Veloute, a tangy crab salad dressed with spiced chicharron. The rock sugar honey sauce was added to his Seventh Heaven Pork Belly cooked twice dish with caramel sauce, pickled daikon and Korean XO sauce.
UFS also presented Filipino chefs who came up with dishes using the Knorr ingredients.
Chef Carlos “Pipo” Aluning created Fried Squid Balls with ginger miso glaze and spicy honey glaze, Salted Egg Shrimp Poppers, and Salted Egg Ice Cream topped with crumble and soured candy bits.
Chef Fernando Aracama dished out Pancit Luglug and Pork Humba Binalot. Chef Pauline Benedicto of Rekado Filipino Comfort Food prepared Crabcake with Salted Egg Hollandaise, and Pulled Pork Adobo with kesong puti.
Chef Joshua Boutwood of The Bistro Group presented Beetroot-cured Salmon with an emulsion of salted egg powder, and Braised Veal Cheeks paired with black coffee glaze.
Chef Kenneth Cacho of ISCAHM featured Golden Nugget with salted egg butter and spiced tomato espuma, and Pork & Beans with bacon-chive cracker.
“Cucina Idol” grand winner Kimberly Solejon showcased Knorr Salted Egg Poboy on charcoal buns, and Five Spice Pork Belly in Knorr Rock Sugar Honey Glaze and fennel-scented barley.
For dessert, chef Miko Aspiras of Le Petit Souffle and Scout’s Honor Cookies served his Salted Egg Entremet, a butter almond cake salted egg yolks mousse and homemade caramel popcorn, and Malu Gula Batu Verrine, a puff pastry pillow, golden saltwater meringue with golden sugar syrup.