No this isn't a new avocado dish...find out what it is after the jump!
It's Pidan! or a "century egg." It's essentially a fermented egg, and it hails to us from China.
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| Century Eggs over rice |
From Wikipedia:
Century egg or pidan (Chinese: 皮蛋;
pinyin: pídàn), is a Chinese cuisine
ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay,
ash, salt, lime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending
on the method of processing.
Through
the process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey color, with a creamy
consistency and an odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark
brown, translucent jelly with little flavor. The transforming agent in the
century egg is its alkaline material, which gradually raises the pH of the egg
to around 9, 12, or more during the curing process. This chemical process breaks
down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a
variety of smaller flavorful compounds.
Some
eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white that are likened to pine
branches, and that gives rise to one of its Chinese names, the pine-patterned egg.
Eat good food. Drink good beer. And above all, stay classy!
...and then there's the Balut! Yum, yum!
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