Delightful Eggs

Love and eggs are best when they are fresh. ~ Russian proverb.

Telur pindang is simply delightful. I can’t get enough of them! I don’t remember when I actually acquired the taste but every time these eggs are available at home (normally in small quantities), my sisters and I would be fighting to get the eggs all to ourselves.
When my sis got married last July, she insisted that every guest is given a telur pindang. I concurred, thinking of the number of telur pindang that I would be able to savour. When I got home for the wedding, my sis, mom, aunt and uncle were busy at the back of my grandma’s house, taking out the already boiled telur pindang from the large pots. The fragrant aroma of spices wafted through the air and I had half the mind to soak my self in the pots for a spice bath (is there such thing?). Because the smell was so nice, (like the taste, it is a smell that you have to acquire), I quickly volunteered to fill the bakul telur with the eggs (so I can avail myself to the pleasures of eating them).
I really don’t know much about how to make the telur pindang. Hmm.. I must learn the delicate process in future. I couldn’t learn anything when I went home for my sis’s wedding since I arrived too late to witness the whole process. A cousin of mine got married a month after my sister did, and true to (Johorean) form, telur pindang became a must and my mom was assigned to be in charge of it. I was ecstatic!

However, again, when I arrived home, it was too late to learn the process. The telur pindang were already being boiled in the pots. I was devastated. Anyhow, my mom said not to worry, since it would take another day for the eggs to boil. Yup, the whole process would take three days, three tanks of gas and constant monitoring! If patience is not one of your virtues, forget it! The telur pindang requires a lot of herbs and spices. From what my mom told me, some of these herbs and spices include galingale, ginger, lemon grass, coriander, aniseed, star anis, cloves, cardamom, guava leaves, senduduk leaves and mangosteen leaves. I am sure there are other leaves used, too, but they just slipped my mind. Other ingredients include kicap and onion peels. No preserveatives added.

The whole process of making telur pindang is truly delicate and must be handled with extreme care. This is what my mom and I learned. Any overestimation or carelessness would bring unwarranted results. Somehow, the telur pindang that my mom made for my cousin didn’t turn out well even though my mom used the same ingredients, the same number of eggs, and the same amount of water. The eggs were tasteless and the colour was not as dark as usual despite being boiled for three consecutive days. We were dumbfounded for a while, and after a lot of deliberation, we concluded that the eggs were the problem. The thing is, the eggs that my mom used for sis's wedding were smaller in size whereas the eggs used for my cousin's weddings were bigger. My mom’s spirit was dampened and she told me that it was the last time she’d ever do the telur pindang. I couldn’t believe my ears!!! Who’s going to inherit the family’s secret recipe, I wailed! What about my wedding (date unknown)???