This East Timor Appetizer is a street food called balado found being sold all over, usually by children. A fried, hard boiled egg for just $.25 and dipped in a spicy chili paste, called ai-manas. I loved the texture of the hard-boiled egg fried, crispy and delicious. The chili paste, wow, they like it spicy there, awesome! I used fresno chilies for the chili paste and I loved it. The recipe calls for fresh Thai chilies which would be significantly hotter. Use what you like and can tolerate.
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- 8 hard-boiled eggs
- oil for deep frying
- For the Chili paste ai-manas
- ¼ lb fresh thai chilies or whatever chili you like, I used fresno
- 2 shallots, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- Thai basil, one big sprig
- ginger, fresh about 2 inches, grated
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- Lemon zest
- salt to taste
- Peel the hard-boiled eggs
- Heat the oil to medium high, deep fry the eggs until they turn brown
- Drain on paper towel
- For the chili paste,
- Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix well, season with salt to taste
- Serve the chili paste with the eggs.
- Enjoy!
