Night Market Protein · Fertilized Duck Egg

Pong Tea Koun

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The egg is boiled with a partly developed duckling still inside — vendors crack the shell and hand it over with a spoon and a twist of lime, salt, and pepper.

A fertilized duck egg is simmered until the embryo inside is fully cooked, then served warm in its shell with a squeeze of lime juice and a pinch of salt-and-pepper mix. Baskets of them show up on trays at Siem Reap's night market stalls alongside other quick protein snacks.

Why it's made this way: It's a cheap, high-protein snack shared across mainland Southeast Asia — the Cambodian version, known in Khmer as paung tea kaun, is a close relative of the Philippines' balut — and Siem Reap's tourist-heavy night markets keep it on constant display as one of the more attention-grabbing bites on offer.

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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.