Mayak Eggs (Korean Marinated Eggs)
Soft-boiled eggs with jammy yolks soaked overnight in soy sauce, garlic, green onion, and sesame. About 15 minutes of work, then the fridge does the rest. Best eaten within a day or two, before the whites turn salty and firm.
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 387kcal
Equipment
- 1 small pot
- 1 glass jar or container
Ingredients
- 6 eggs cold, large
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
Marinade
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 stalks green onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 2 red/ green chili (optional)
Instructions
- Boil the eggs. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon vinegar. Gently lower in the cold eggs, reduce to a simmer, and cook 7 minutes. Use 6 minutes if the eggs are at room temperature.1 tbsp vinegar, 6 eggs
- Ice bath. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water and leave until completely cold.
- Peel. Tap each egg on a flat surface, roll gently under your palm to crack the shell all over, then peel from the wide end. Rinse off any shell fragments.
- Mix the marinade. In a jar or container, combine the soy sauce, water, sugar, minced garlic, green onions, and chili. Stir until the sugar has fully dissolved.½ cup soy sauce, ½ cup water, ¼ cup sugar, 2 cloves garlic, 2 stalks green onion, 2 red/ green chili
- Marinate. Add the peeled eggs to the marinade. If they aren't fully submerged, turn them over after 8 to 12 hours. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Serve. Drizzle with sesame oil and scatter sesame seeds over the top. Serve cold or at room temperature over hot rice, with a spoonful of the marinade.1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Notes
Makes 6 eggs.
Use older eggs. Very fresh eggs cling to their shells. A carton that's been in the fridge a week or two peels far more easily.
Don't skip the vinegar. A tablespoon in the boiling water loosens the bond between the white and the shell. It doesn't affect the flavor.
Ice bath immediately and completely. Straight from the pot into ice water, and leave them until cold all the way through. Residual heat keeps cooking the yolk, and warm eggs are harder to peel.
Peel from the wide end. Tap and roll to crack the shell all over first rather than picking at one spot. The air pocket sits at the wide end, where the membrane lifts most easily.
Timing. 7 minutes for cold eggs, 6 for room temperature, both for a jammy center. 10 minutes if you want them hard-boiled.
Dissolve the sugar fully before the eggs go in, or it settles at the bottom and the eggs don't season evenly. A liquid sweetener like rice syrup, corn syrup, honey, or mirin skips this problem.
Turn them halfway. Most containers won't cover the eggs completely. Flip them after 8 to 12 hours so both sides take on the color.
Sesame oil at serving, not in the marinade. Oil separates in a soy-based liquid and coats some eggs more than others.
Take the eggs out of the marinade after 24 hours. This is the step most recipes skip. The whites keep absorbing salt, so leaving them in turns them firm and overly salty by day three. Store the eggs and the marinade in separate containers.
Storage. Eggs keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge once out of the marinade. Serve cold or at room temperature, not reheated. Don't freeze, boiled whites go rubbery.
Reuse the marinade once, within a day or two, topped up with a splash of soy sauce. It's also good spooned over rice or used in a stir-fry.
Nutrition
Calories: 387kcal | Carbohydrates: 20.8g | Protein: 11.9g | Fat: 30.1g | Saturated Fat: 5.1g | Cholesterol: 186mg | Sodium: 549mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 3.1g | Sugar: 5.4g | Calcium: 251mg | Iron: 4mg
