Chiang Mai street food-style mini omelettes

My daughter and I were scouring the Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market, saw quail egg omelettes being cooked in a pan that looked like an oversized takoyaki pan, and we decided we could do with a snack. I enjoyed them so much that I decided to try making them at home.

The first time I made these mini-omelettes, I used a takoyaki pan. But the grooves were too small and too deep. Plus our takoyaki pan is lightweight and a proper crust did not form on the underside of the omelettes. So, we got an aebleskiver pan. It’s a Danish pan used for making aebleskiver — spherical Danish pancakes. It looks like this.

Yes, it looks like a takoyaki pan but the grooves of the aebleskiver pan are wider and shallower. We bought the aebleskiver pan primarily to cook banh khot. Although an authentic banh khot pan has even wider and shallower grooves than an aebleskiver pan, this is the closest thing we could get. A heavy cast iron aebleskiver pan yields better results.

And, this time, instead of just sprinkling chopped vegetables over the eggs, whole shrimps went on top of some and chopped spicy sausage meat went on top of the rest.

Just heat the aebleskiver pan, make sure it’s hot before brushing the grooves with oil then pour in beaten eggs. Do not fill to the brims. Stop when the grooves are about three-quarters full because you’re adding toppings and you don’t want the eggs to overflow.

While the eggs are still very wet, start dropping your toppings on top. I like to start with the proteins and end with chopped vegetables.

Cover the pan and let the eggs cook until firm and the undersides have formed a golden crust. Enjoy the mini omelettes as a snack.

Chiang Mai street food-style mini omelettes

Connie Veneracion

Beaten eggs are poured into a special pan (a cast iron aebleskiver pan is used here), topped with whole shrimps, chopped spicy sausage meat, bell pepper and scallions, and cooked until set. This Chiang Mai street food is served with chili sauce for dipping. Sweet chili sauce is equally good.

For the sausage meat, Fully cooked sausage (casing discarded) is used here. If using sausage with raw meat, slit the casing and discard, and pan fry the sausage meat in its own fat until done before adding to the eggs.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine Thai

Servings 4 people

Equipment

• Aebleskiver pan

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Fillings

• ▢ 6 whole shrimps shelled, deveined and tossed with salt and pepper
• ▢ 1 spicy sausage chopped
• ▢ 2 bell peppers deseeded and chopped
• ▢ ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions

Omelettes

• ▢ 4 large eggs
• ▢ salt
• ▢ pepper
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Instructions

 

• Prepare all your ingredients and lay them out like an assembly line.
• In a bowl with a spout, beat the eggs with two to three pinches of salt and as much pepper as you like.
• Set the aebleskiver pan on the stove over medium heat and brush the grooves liberally with oil.
• Pour the beaten eggs into the grooves until about three quarters full.
• Add the whole shrimps into some of the grooves, and chopped sausage meat into the others.
• Sprinkle chopped bell pepper and sliced scallions on top of the shrimps / sausage meat.
• Cover the pan and cook the mini omelettes until firm and the undersides are browned and crisp (by this time the shrimps will be fully cooked and the sausage meat heated through).
• Scoop out the mini omelettes using a spoon and transfer to a plate.
• Repeat until all the ingredients have been used up.
• Serve the Chiang Mai street food-style mini omelettes with sweet chili sauce.