I grew up in a pretty modern Chinese family, whereby we followed certain Chinese traditions carried down through the ages more so because it was traditional rather than due to superstitious beliefs (or at least that is how I live my life now).
One way or another, our traditions usually revolve around food and the symbols they represent in life.
Take for example mandarin oranges, which are exchanged and eaten in abundance during the Chinese New Year season due to the similarity of the play-of-words where mandarin oranges sound like the word “gold” in Chinese.
I would like to share with you a little tradition we follow in welcoming a new birth in the family.
According to Chinese customs, when a newborn enters this world and celebrates his or her first full month, the family usually throws a Full Moon party where relatives and close friends come together to welcome the little bundle of joy.
It really is a post-natal baby shower 🙂
This usually also marks the end of the new mother’s confinement period as well.
Treats such as Ang Ku Kueh and Chinese Red Eggs are consumed and exchanged during this celebration.
In this post, I will be focussing on the making of the red eggs (as I recently made around 30 for cousins J&J’s baby’s full moon party).
The eggs are dyed red to symbolise luck, good fortune and blessings (us Chinese really like the colour red). Eggs are used because they represent fertility and its shape symbolises peace and harmony.
So armed with this knowledge and growing up eating many of these whenever a new baby popped out (relatives and friends), I volunteered to make these for baby J&J junior.
When giving out these eggs, remember, it is even numbers for girls and odd numbers for boys.
Chinese Red Eggs Recipe
(Adapted from BabyCentre.com.my – Baby Traditions: Chinese Full Moon)
Ingredients:
Eggs (I used 30 eggs) – room temperature to avoid shell from cracking
Cold water
White Vinegar (1-2 teaspoons)
Food Grade Red dye
1 teaspoon of Salt
Procedure:
Place all eggs in a huge pot with the cold water and simmer on low heat over the stove (cook top) for 45-60 minutes.
Place a teaspoon of the vinegar and salt in the water as the water is simmering. This will allow the egg shells to be more porous and susceptible to the red dye.
Once the eggs are cooked, remove from heat.
In a large bowl put a couple of tablespoons of the red dye and using gloves, start colouring the eggs, setting them aside to dry (on a wire rack or another bowl).
You could use a paint brush to paint the shells red, but I couldn’t find one and ended up using my glove-covered-fingers to “paint” the egg shells (hence the artsy tie-dye effect on the eggs).
Once the eggs are completely cooled and dried, you can place them into a basket/container or start handing them out to guests as they enjoy their meal at the full moon party.
Note: The low heat prevents the eggs from cracking.
So tell me my friends, what traditions do you follow to welcome a new born baby into this world?
To find out more about Ang Ku Kueh’s and the recipes, visit Bryan’s blog:
I am considering making these eggs for someone in my family for later this year too. 😀
Oooh! Have fun and fingers crossed!
I love hearing about cultural traditions, and how they’ve adapted in modern society. These eggs are lovely, and the tye-dye effect its very funky indeed!
I love spreading knowledge or finding out more about traditions and cultures too!
ooh i didn’t know ang ku kueh is used for the full moon event. 🙂 Now, i’ve learnt something!
Yeah! Learn something new everyday 🙂
What a lovely tradition and I love the vibrant colour of the eggs.
Awwww thanks!
Always learning new things through food blogs:) The eggs look nice, how they’re not evenly red all over, but bits of dark and light red mixed in.
Why do you need to cook the eggs for so long? Is it to make the shell take in the dye well?
I feel like making coloured Easter eggs:)
Hello! It’s to make the eggshell more porous and less likely to crack as opposed to when it’s on high heat 🙂
Hope this works for you for Easter 🙂
They’re really beautiful! And thanks for the tips re boys and girls! 😀
Aww thanks! Any tips a good tip I say 🙂
I love learning new recipes. This things looks wonderful. Can’t wait to try them at home.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
-Daniel
You are welcome 🙂
I love cooking and habituated to try something new ..Actually its my passion..
I have never try this Chinese Red Eggs..But now from this blog I will definitely try this..
Thank you for this sharing..
Full Moon Seafood House is also my favorite..
Good luck!
Those old traditions are good to keep. It seems so as I get older….
The older and wiser we get 🙂
Love the artsy tie-dye effect on your red eggs.
It really was by fluke!
We have our own version of red egg and we call it “itlog na pula”.This is a good combination of tomato and onion with dried fish on the side.This is perfect for breakfast with hot
coffee.. yay! love it!!
I just googled it and its so vibrant looking! Thanks for sharing that with me!!!
It was my niece’s 100 day celebration last saturday 🙂 so of course it’s a tradition to have Full Moon eggs. But I feel so cheated >_< they didn't even bother dyeing them red! The eggs were simply wrapped in red cellphone paper SIGH…
Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I might make some for her instead hehe ~
Nice to see the slight differences in the celebration 🙂 100 days! That’s long man. I would only wait for a month as I would want to eat!!
I never really had the opportunity to try it out… I guess now I have the time.. Lets see what are my outcomes from this dish.
I liked the dish… I tried it once in my home… I was satisfied with the outcome I have got.
It’s just unique and have an amazing taste , I would suggest everyone to try this at least once.