It’s a sandwich we’ve long taken for granted — egg salad between soft white bread slices, always made better at a Japanese train station or convenience store. It wasn’t until LA sandwich shop Konbi put it on their menu last October — granted, with a picture-perfect soft-yolked egg in the centre — that these sandwiches became a thing. Now they are all over Instagram and, well, everywhere really.

Which got us to thinking about how we could make a more Singaporean version of it. Enter sambal belacan. It’s spicy, pungent and well-loved by just about us all. So we folded it into our egg sambal, and before we could say, “sambal belacan mayo”, we had ourselves a winner.

We found that Japanese mayo really dulls the spiciness of the sambal, so the amount we’ve stated in the recipe is a guide. Mix it up and taste as you go, adding more if you need more oomph. Other than that, this recipe is easy enough for anyone, whether or not you’re a seasoned cook or… well, sandwich builder. If you get lazy or care nothing for Instagram snaps, feel free to omit the soft-yolk egg in the centre (but it's so pretty!).

Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:

8 eggs (weighing about 60-65g each in its shell), at room temperature

3 tbsp Japanese mayo

1 tbsp sambal belacan, or more to taste (try Singlong from FairPrice)

8 slices of sandwich bread (white, sandwich or Japanese milk bread work well)

butter for spreading, at room temperature

sea salt, to taste

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Gently lower the eggs into the boiling water and reduce the heat. Cook at a gentle simmer for 6 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, prepare 2 bowls of iced water.

3. After 6 minutes, remove 2 eggs with a slotted spoon and transfer them to one bowl of iced water. This will yield creamy, soft-yolk eggs.

4. Continue cooking the remaining eggs for another 6 minutes, then transfer the eggs to the other bowl of iced water.

5. Gently crack and peel the 2 soft-yolk eggs. Set them aside.

6. Now crack and peel the remaining 6 eggs. Place them in a large bowl and mash them roughly with a fork to about 1/4-inch pieces. You could also chop the eggs with a knife and transfer to a bowl.

7. Add the mayonnaise and sambal belacan to the bowl of eggs and fold with a rubber spatula so everything is mixed in evenly.

8. Slather butter on one side of each slice of bread.

9. With a sharp knife, cut the soft-yolk eggs into halves lengthwise. Sprinkle a little sea salt over each half.

10. Place each half on the centre of a slice of buttered bread, laying them yolk-side down.

11. Divide the egg salad among the sandwiches, placing about a quarter cup of egg salad, on top of and around the soft-boiled egg half. Using a butter knife, spread the egg salad evenly towards the crusts in all directions until the bread is covered.

12. Top with the remaining slices of bread, butter-side down.

13. Using a serrated knife, carefully slice the crusts off each sandwich.

14. Cut sandwiches into halves (slicing against the soft-yolked egg half breadth-wise) to reveal a pretty cross-section. Serve immediately or refrigerate, wrapped in cling film, for up to 24 hours.

Alvin Teo, 8 DAYS