Why Salted Egg Inside Singapore Pastries?

Singapore Flag

Singapore always offers a food surprise, every day.

I cut open a Singapore pastry and found salted egg inside. Nothing so surprising about that. The surprise was that surrounding it was something sweet.

UK flag

UK Scotch Eggs
In the UK, in London, England, we have cooked boiled eggs in the centre of snacks, but always savoury food. Scotch egg, a meatball with an egg in the middle, is a popular pub food for a lunchtime snack.

 It may be called Scotch egg, but it's a favourite in London.

Scotch egg. Photo author Unhindered by Talent in Wikipedia.

So what could be the reasoning, or the advantage, of having eggs inside something sweet?

Moon Cakes
The first time I found salted eggs inside something sweet was in one of my favourite festival foods, the autumn harvest festivals moon cakes.

Plain Moon cake.

Moon cake with not one but two egg yolks.

The moon cakes containing eggs were more expensive. I found that strange. To me an egg is less of a novelty than the sugary filling, and dilutes the flavour, is distracting.

Advantages Of Eggs
From a nutritional point of view, I can see the advantages of the solid egg in a sweet pastry. It's like adding nuts to chocolate. You reduce the overall sugar content. You add protein. You turn the food into something nutritious.

So, there you have it. I shall keep trying it until I become accustomed to it and start to like it.

If you buy pastries from a shop in Singapore, ask what is inside. If you are supplying food for an event, please note the contents. Enjoy!

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.