Thai braised eggs (kai palo)
Hard-boiled eggs simmered in a sweet, five-spice soy broth until they turn deep caramel brown, served over jasmine rice with plenty of the broth.
- 60 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.04 a serving
- 500 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 large eggs
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 bunch cilantro, stems and leaves chopped separately
- 8 oz white mushrooms, halved
- 1½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 1½ cups jasmine rice
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- 5 cups water, divided
Each serving has about 500 calories, 22 g protein, 71 g carbs and 14 g fat, and costs about $2.04 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a medium of water over high heat. Lower in the eggs with a spoon, turn the heat to medium-high and boil 9 minutes.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Move the eggs to a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes, then them.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Crack the wide end first, where the air pocket is, and peel under a thin stream of cold water.Smash and the garlic, the mushrooms, and the cilantro stems, keeping the leaves for the top.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Heat the oil in a medium over medium heat. Add the garlic, cilantro stems and pepper and stir , about 1 minute.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Add the brown sugar and five-spice and stir until the sugar and bubbles, about 1 minute.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Move on as soon as it bubbles. Melted sugar burns fast.Pour in the soy sauce and 3 cups water, standing back as it sputters. Add the eggs and mushrooms and .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heat
, , for 30 minutes, turning the eggs every 10 minutes, until they are a deep caramel brown.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Low heatTimer: 30 min
Dolly’s tip: The eggs float, so turning them is what colors them all over.While it , the rice and put it in a small with 2 cups water. over high heat.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the eggs and serve them over the rice with the mushrooms, a ladle of the dark broth and the cilantro leaves.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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