Pickled Turmeric Eggs

I seldom dye Easter eggs anymore--too much bother--but these Pickled Turmeric Eggs from Heidi Swanson are a fun and easy way to add some sunny color to your Easter or weekday egg snacks and egg-salad sandwiches.

Heidi says, "The turmeric swings some nutritional weight, and brings an electric yellow hue to the outside of each egg. The apple cider vinegar delivers a nice bite and tang to the situation, and also tightens up the texture of the egg. You have to give these a try!"

She also says that you can use them in all sorts of ways. "As a component in a quick lunch you can't go wrong, or to top off a Buddha bowl, or just as a stand-alone snack. You can eat them halved and topped with whatever you have on hand...  or ... grate them on a box grater for a vibrant shredded egg salad. You can also use the shredded version as a protein-boost on top of a green salad, or as the main event on an open-faced sandwich."

Pickled Turmeric Eggs
From Heidi Swanson via 101Cookbooks.com
(Makes 6 Eggs)

1 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp fine grain salt
2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 onion (or 4 shallots), thinly sliced
1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
6 hard-boiled eggs. peeled (your favorite method--I use this one)
Assorted toppings to serve (as desired): chopped walnuts, scallions, radish, cilantro of other herbs, the pickled onions, or whatever else you like.

Bring the apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and turmeric together in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir so the sugar dissolves and remove from the heat.

Place the onion, peppercorns and hard-boiled eggs into a glass quart jar. Pour the vinegar mixture over the eggs and tightly secure the lid. Gently rotaate the jar to shift the onions and peppercorns around.

Refrigerate until cold and for up to 10 days to 2 weeks.
 

Notes/Results: When I went to grab an onion for this recipe I had one shallot, a Maui sweet onion and a red onion and I picked the one in most need of being used--the red onion. Flavor-wise, it is fine and pickled up nicely but it did muddy the yellow color of the turmeric a bit--giving me a different hue than I think I would have gotten with the lighter shallot or yellow onion. Not a big deal. These eggs are fun--they have a nice bite from the vinegar that I like and are firmer than a regular hard-boiled egg. I think they could be addicting to a hard-boiled egg fan like me. So far, I have just eaten them as a snack. Using some of Heidi's topping suggestions and some of my own, I topped them with smoked sea salt, black pepper, chopped toasted walnuts, fresh cilantro, and some of the pickled onions. Tomorrow I am going to make an egg salad sandwich---I am thinking with some curry mayonnaise and naan bread. ;-) A fun and tasty kitchen experiment that I will happily make again.  
 
Linking up to I Heart Cooking Clubs where this week's theme is Eggs--our Monthly Featured Ingredient Challenge. You can see the egg dishes that everyone made from our current chef or any of our previously featured chefs by checking out the picture links--here. 

Happy Aloha Friday!