This year my Bollywood Cooking series is focusing on good, tasty and simple home food. While last year I concentrated on showing many of the loved and extravagant dishes often enjoyed in restaurants, this year it is important for me to show you just how different food cooked in Indian homes (mostly focusing on North Indian food) is, in comparison to street or restaurant food. So many people approach me and say they love Indian food, "but it's so hard and time consuming to cook at home." That actually was the whole reason I started this series - to show these people, it's not hard at all.
I admit when I left home I used the same excuses when my mum told me I should cook Indian food at home. I used to try and satisfy my craving by ordering at the local take-out or eating at a good Indian restaurant. However, the fact was I was not satisfy anything. Because the food I got at home, the food I was brought up on, was very different to what I was trying to make myself believe was Indian food. I was just trying to pretend the so called Indian food at these eateries were just as good as I would get at home - and besides beggars can't be choosers right? Finally I decided to stop groaning and jumped right in. I began cooking simple dishes from my mother's instructions, via telephone or emails. Thank you mum!
Indian Home Food depends less on the richness of ghee and cream but more on using simple spices to create a complex blend of flavors. And garam masala, while most certainly is a very Indian spice mixture, does not belong in every Indian dish.
Last week when I read Manisha's recent post Enough I had to sit up and shout "Jai ho!" Because she speaks from my heart and says it bolder than I would dare to. Thank you Manisha!
Having said this, I have to introduce you to a slightly controversial dish between my mum and me. Egg curry - Punjabi style - is a dish that both my brother and I grew up on. We loved it so much that we did not mind having it several times a month. My mum's version is fantastic - simple whole spices, sautéed mushrooms and a tomato-yogurt based gravy simmered down to make it thick served with fluffy, scented rice - pure bliss. When she passed on her recipe I made it so often that we'd go through bucketfuls of eggs in a month. Then I began experimenting, until I landed on my own version of her egg curry. That is where the controversy started - my mum would throw up her hands and say "this is not my Punjabi style - it's very South Indian-like."
OK so it's not her version - but a version we, including my mother, enjoy equally as much. It's different as it uses coconut milk to give it a creamy thickness adding a lovely complementary flavor to the eggs. I've never had egg curry prepared in this way anywhere before, therefore I cannot say if it really is South Indian-like, so taking Manisha's cue I'll call it South Indian inspired. LOL!
Egg Curry in a Creamy Coconut Gravy
[Printable version of recipe here]
Ingredients
1 red chili, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
2 green cardamom
1 teaspoon black cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
1 red onion, very finely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
Small piece ginger, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons ghee
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
250ml unsweetened coconut milk
8 hard boiled eggs, cut in halves
400g small potatoes, cooked
150g frozen or fresh peas
Coriander leaves, chopped
Method
- Place all the whole spices in a skillet and dry toast for 30 seconds to 1 minute on gentle heat, until fragrant.
- Add ghee and swirl the pan around. Add the onions, ginger and garlic and sauté until browned – approx 5-6 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and mix well to form a nice thick paste like consistency. Finally add the coconut milk and simmer the entire mixture for 15 minutes. The gravy should have thickened at the end of this time.
- Finally add the egg halves, cooked potatoes and peas. Gently stir and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes until everything has warmed through.
- Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve with rice and/or rotis.
Food Guide tip:
India – The Home of Spice – everything you ever wanted to know about the Indian spice kitchen!
Serve this egg curry with fluffy and delicious ginger lime rice:
Heat some oil or ghee in a large pot. Add a medium sized piece of ginger and some lime peel to a pot, then add the rice. Stir to coat the rice in the oil, then add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder. Finally add water and cook until the rice is ready.
Verdict
I have very much used my mum’s basic recipe as a basis for my own experimentation. My mum is very particular about the mélange of spices she uses and loves using whole spices in her dishes. Freshly toasted and then either ground or simply used whole they add a spectacular and aromatic highlight to any dish she made. She always conveyed this to me when teaching me the basics of Indian cooking So, it is always important to me to make sure that I go by her book when it comes to the spice blend. The rest is free to play with as I choose. And here I did play around with the coconut milk and using potatoes and peas to complement the curry.
The result is a lovely blend of rich tasting coconut gravy coating the eggs and potatoes. Just too delicious. Soeren and Tom think so too and are always asking me to make this on regular intervals. It’s easy, it’s good and it’s inexpensive.
More Bollywood Cooking from WFLH:
Aachari Alu | Spicy Okra with Onions | Dad's Chicken Curry |
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First
HOW NICE ! LOOKS SO SO GOOD!
ReplyDeleteA delicious curry! I love that flavorful combination!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Rosa
I would have never contemplated making egg curry with coconut milk! I don't know why i would not.. may be the simple reason, i am not used to it. This looks really different than the regular.. i like the way the eggs stand out instead of all dunked & smeared in the gravy.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I love curries but I never thought of making an egg curry!
ReplyDeleteBookmark the recipe! I need some Indian goodness to spice up my meal. This must be it! (I am lazy to cook meat nowadays ;))
ReplyDeletewow!! Looks yummy. I just love all the egg preparation.
ReplyDeleteGood recipe.
ReplyDeleteMy mom makes a mixed vegetable egg curry... I should make it sometime and blog about it!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so tasty... I wish I could reach out and grab a bite.
oh this makes me so happy!! looks like heaven. love anything eggs :) x
ReplyDeleteI don't exactly know where my mom would get a recipe like this, but we grew up with a similar dish. Of course not as fragrant as yours, but nevertheless it brought back fond memories!! Thx for sharing. Maybe this time I can make this for my mom!!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely meeta!,,beautiful pictures..
ReplyDeleteMeeta, this looks fantastic and delicious! I love the idea of making a curry with eggs as the star and this one is great! Love the flavors. I want to try this one.
ReplyDeleteEgg curry in coconut milk is one of the few ways we like our eggs. I make something pretty close (no potatoes in it) to this called Egg Moilee, a Kerala style dish.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is fantastic with parathas.
Looks delicious with these wonderful clicks!
ReplyDeleteI love all sorts of curries. And I usually make hair boiled eggs and add them to my curry too. Guess this one that you made will be the great choice for me when I fancy only eggs in my curry! :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so delicious, not to mention, an egg curry is so budget-friendly! Will have to add this to the menu next week (after a quick trip to the nearest Indian grocery to pick up black cumin seed, I actually DON'T have this spice...yet!)
ReplyDeleteLooks extremely tempting!
ReplyDeleteThat's one aromatic curry Mita. I surely want to give it a try. I love the Flavors of spices in cocconut milk and an egg curry is still always welcome, cosidering I am not very fond of eggs.
ReplyDeleteWe are great fans of egg curries and yours looks delightful.
ReplyDeleteBtw, dear Meeta, thank you very much; I'm sure I don't have to tell you why :-)
That egg curry looks really tasty!
ReplyDeleteI love eggs, and I just devour them. The pics made me fall in love with this recipe. Its so tempting.
ReplyDeleteso glad that you all like the flavors and spices in this curry. egg curry is one of life's simple pleasures - so big on comfort though! hugs!
ReplyDeleteMeeta, this is the best looking egg curry I have ever seen! We usually make a roasted coconut masala that is then finely ground. My blender doesn't do such a great job so I grind the dry masala in the coffee grinder and use coconut milk instead. It tastes very good!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link love and for picking up the thread in the best possible way: with a recipe! You rock! My main grouse is that the limited menu in restaurants has come to represent Indian food. Whereas the truth is that there is such a great variety that it's hard to classify Indian food under one umbrella. And unfortunately, most restaurant food is either unhealthy or not made well. Every day Indian food is not difficult to cook and given some basic prep work, you can have a homemade meal in very little time. Your Bollywood series is inspiring and your photos even more awesome! You go, girl!!
Hear! Hear! I completely agree with your thoughts (and Manisha's) on Indian food. I usually lurk here- but had to de-lurk to comment..Simple Indian food is as easy or difficult as any other kind of food and does not need to be heavy/greasy to be tasty..lol
ReplyDeleteYour egg curry looks yum! It reminds me of a Kerala-style/inspired rajmaa sabji I made with coconut milk,cloves,cinammon.It tasted very 'stew-like'
Will definitely try this recipe.
That just looks fantastic Meeta. I totally love Indian food, but ever since I have been to India I can't seem to be able to recreate the flavours correctly. I recently made an attempt at a typical Indian curry dish but it just wasn't right... Maybe I should be following this recipe to begin with!
ReplyDeleteMeeta, first of all , excuse my English, it is not very good ... I know you probably hear this everyday, but you are a Godess... There are no words to describe your talent, as a cooker as well as a photographer. Since I discovered your blog, I decided to end my blog's activity :). Really, it is a pleasure for my eyes to see the wonders you made, you are my role model, you are great and such a special woman. You are the best ! LOve what you're doing ... :)
ReplyDeleteSilvia - Romania
you know..im always on the look out for a good egg curry recipe. its one of my mother in laws favorite dishes. i'll be making this the next time she visits. thanks :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my Mallu friends told me to add coconut milk to egg curry and I add it to everythign now! :)
ReplyDeleteYours looks great, Meeta. Bookmarked.
The egg curry looks very yummy! I make it the same way too with coconut milk and all... would love to get your mom's recipe as well- simply because a curry without the coconut milk sounds healthy...
ReplyDelete-Subha
nice recipe
ReplyDeleteYour egg curry looks great. I must try this when the weather gets a little cooler.
ReplyDeleteI have just started to get my feet wet with Indian cooking. I love to eat it at restaurants, but haven't much experience cooking it myself. This looks like a lovely dish that I could easily create at home. I'm looking forward to trying it!
ReplyDeletemanisha - your post really hit the nail on the head. but i understand the reaction of many people who have fears about indian food. i hope my series will bring on a change and motivate my readers to try at home. it's already working with some! glad you like this recipe - but your coconut masala sounds to die for.
ReplyDeleteLavanya - thank you for your comment and glad you de-lurked! ;-) agree with you totally once you get the hang of it it's as easy as preparing any other meal.
Simone - trust me practice really does make perfect. start by following a few good recipes. i can recommend madhur jaffrey's recipes or we have a lovely indian blogging community who create fantastic and simple dishes on their blogs for you to follow and lastly you can of course follow my recipes here too LOL! let me know if i can help/advice on anything!
Silvia - *blush* thank you so much for all these wonderful compliments. i do not feel worthy! much appreciated and you kind of made my day with this LOL!
Sala - hope she enjoys this! i feel the pressure already!
A-and-N - hope you like it. let me know!
subha - oh yes i hope i get around to posting my mum's recipe here too.
andreas - i am sure you will love it.
Susan - may the force be with you LOL! seriously it's really easy and the spices are very readily availble in most supermarkets. have fun!
Oh yum yum!! If I made this for dinner my partner and I would be fork fighting over the hard boiled eggs.
ReplyDeleteThis does look delicious Meeta! I would love to try real home-cooked Indian food as what I get is mostly from restaurants!
ReplyDeletewhat a stunning picture Meeta! Never tried egg curry with coconut milk... looks great.
ReplyDeleteMeeta, I have just started eating egg curry .. egg as an egg .. if you know what I mean .. else it was always sneaked into cakes and bakes. I love the addition of coconut milk. Also .. I think cooking with whole spices is more flavourful than ground spices powders.
ReplyDeleteComing to the Indian restaurants .. yep we believe that certain places serve good fod.. even if its mediocre .... there is a kerala restaurant .. here in Phoenix , who started off as serving aapams and fish stews ... but later changed their menu .. and has the typical fare ... north indian stuff of the restuarants .
I've never had curry that only has eggs! Sounds really interesting and sounds great with rice.
ReplyDeletehey meeta!
ReplyDeleteMy previous post is an egg curry. I see so many egg curries around. Your look so good and I am sure it tasted gr8! Yummmmmmmmy!
This looks wonderful! I've never had egg curry before. Your photos are fantastic :)
ReplyDeleteSo, to let you know, I made this last night. While my hubby wasn't a fan (he's just not big on peas and bites of tomatoes, but I decided I wanted to keep them in the recipe as is), I loved it. Have leftovers for lunch today, yippee! It's amazing comfort food!
ReplyDeleteFirst time here, lovely blog with amazing pics!!
ReplyDeleteSaw your comment about an egg curry on another site where I'd bookmarked a recipe and just had to hop on over and find it. I've never had an egg curry before and the concept really intrigues me! It sounds so flavourful and obviously is a nice & cheap meal as well - always a winner in my book. :-) Bookmarking this to try sometime.
ReplyDelete