I STILL REMEMBER THE DELIGHTFUL TASTE OF TURTLE EGGS

Turtle eggs used to be my favorite delicacy when small.

When I was living in Temerloh, Pahang in the 1950’s, I can still remember my father bringing back loads of those round, ping-pong-like, soft-but-unbreakable eggs he bought from his working travels to the states of Trengganu and Kelantan.

Even when my family moved to Kuala Lumpur in the 1960’s, I remember eating and relishing those turtle eggs brought by relatives and friends of my parents from Pahang when they came to visit us in the big city.

Well, the turtle eggs were sort of something different from the usual "buah tangan" or gifts given by visiting friends or relatives, a delightful Malay traditional practice when making visits.

Normally snacks and delicacies like "dodol" and other traditional cakes (kuih) are brought when visiting. But more usually, there’ll sometimes be a big sackful of the fruits in season, like rambutans, langsat, and that "King of fruits", the durians.

And of course when I was young, like other young children, I always look forward to visits by relatives not only because of the buah tangan, but the greater thrill of meeting my cousins of similar age as well. We could play all kinds of games together, although sometimes the play would turn into friendly "fights". Ah, I digress...

Back to turtle eggs...

But as I grew up and the years went by, I found that those tasty turtle eggs seemed to decline in quantity. Well, evidently less of those turtles came up to nest at the beaches in Pahang and Terengganu during the 1990’s. This phenomenon was reflected by the higher prices for the eggs sold, and the scarcity of finding sellers of turtle eggs. I don't think I ever ate any of them during those times until now.

HOW I ATE TURTLE EGGS

I don’t know and I can't tell about other ways of eating or cooking turtle eggs. That’s because in my family I remember only one way done by my mother.

My mom would boil the turtle eggs just like she would boil chicken eggs, and that is by putting the eggs in a pot full of water and letting them cook under a hot fire.

But when fully boiled, unlike chicken or duck eggs, I remember those turtle eggs will float to the top of the pot, perhaps because of the hot air trapped in the shell. And although seems soft, their egg shells don’t break easily like chicken’s or duck’s eggs.

Well, turtle eggs taste especially good when taken just after it has been boiled and when the inside yolk is warm.

I remember my favorite way to eat them was just to make a small opening in the soft shell with my fingers. Then, I will put a bit of "kicap" or salty soy sauce through the opening, and the whole egg is sucked from the small opening. Ooowah, yummy, yummy, really delicious!!

But even without the soy sauce, turtle eggs taste somewhat a bit salty, and the orange yolk has a sandy or grainy feel to it.

No, I can never forget those great delightful taste. Really.

I would eat loads of them if I could, but usually my parents would set a quota of four or five only for each of us in the family (of seven siblings), so everyone gets a fair share.

Now, my dear friends, why am I telling this story? What’s my point?

Oh, read my next blog post.