The eggs are boiled slowly in water mixed with salt, soy sauce, shallot skins, teak leaf, and other spices.

Today, the telur pindang is widely spread throughout the Indonesian archipelago; however, it is found more prevalent in Javanese cuisine[4] of Central and East Java, and also South Sumatra.

The teak leaf is also used to give reddish color in Yogyakarta's gudeg, or even as dyeing material in traditional Javanese batik-making.

With Johor being a hub of international trade, it would be useful to the many merchants at sea who can benefit from such an easily stored food item that lasted for weeks.

However, the daily use of telur pindang is now far more uncommon today due to its complicated and time-consuming method of cooking, restricted to mostly festivities or commercial sales.