EGG DROP CURRY

W

hen I've made the same curry about 5 times in the last three weeks, it might indicate that  it's a good one!I am usually not the one to make the same curry repeatedly, atleast not this frequently but the flavours of this egg curry are so basic yet so comforting. The method is extremely simply yet time saving. You get the drift, right? This is a curry that you can pull of in no time at all! Usually, when I make my Nadan Motta Curry where I  need to hard boil the eggs separately and peel them later. Here, it's all made in one pot and the results are fantastic!

The only thing I would suggest you to use would be a little spacious pan. You need to break open the eggs slightly apart from each other, so that they get their own space to cook. Also, if you feel like flipping them towards the end, you need that little room to wiggle your spatula around without breaking the eggs. Other than that little tip, I can only ask you to make this curry as soon as you can because you will love it! It pairs perfectly with Appam, Chapathi, Pathiri, Idiyappam,White Bread, Rolls etc. I found this lovely,quick recipe from here.

Talking about Appam reminded me of the recipe that I have been making for a few weeks now. It's such a quick one and doesn't need more than 30 minutes to make it...yes, from start to finish. Amma shared that recipe with me and it makes such soft, wonderful Appams. I am hoping to share it with you sometime. I have so much planned and photographed for the blog but when it comes to sitting down to write about it, it requires a little more time than before. It could be the age catching up on me or it could be that it's crazy right now with everyone being at home! :-)

EGG DROP CURRY

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 large eggs

4 tomatoes, diced

1 large onion, diced

3 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 tablespoon Kashmiri red chili powder

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1/2 - 1 cup coconut milk*

Salt

Coriander leaves for garnish

Method: Heat oil in a wide saute pan on medium heat and once hot, add the fennel seeds and let it sizzle. Then add the onions and a pinch of salt and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir for 30 seconds followed by the diced tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes loses it's shape and becomes mushy.Add the spice powders and 1/3 cup water and cook stirring occasionally until the curry becomes little thick,about 2-3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and let it come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low,check for salt and then crack open the eggs directly onto the curry. Do so gently and open the cracked eggs close to the gravy. Cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes or until the eggs are cooked. Serve the curry garnished with coriander leaves.

* The original recipe called for 1/2 cup coconut milk but I have been using 1 cup. I felt the gravy was too less with just 1/2 cup. Maybe my pan is wider or my coconut milk was thick. So use your own judgement here. This is a slightly thick gravy and not a watery one, so don't be tempted to add a lot of liquid.

If you feel the need to flip the eggs around 12 minutes, please do so. I flip ours because we like them set on both sides.

I must admit that whenever I've made this curry, it's as if I've haven't made enough. It just vanishes before I can even think of taking a photograph of it. Every time I've shared the photographs on my Instagram account, my inbox literally gets flooded with recipe requests from so many! I feel terrible to tell them that I will share it the next time I make it because that's what really happens in our home. Everything I make vanishes...unless I fight with them saying I need to click pictures first before they get a taste of it. It used to be like that long, long ago...like in 2008-2009 time frame but it's all coming back especially after having two little ones who absolutely love to eat! :-)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy making this as much as I do on a weekly basis! 

INDIAN EGG CURRY / NADAN MOTTA CURRY

Some of you may have noticed that I call eggs 'Motta' instead of 'Mutta' in my mother tongue,Malayalam. We always called 'Motta' a 'Motta' at home. Initially, I was unaware of it until my school friends made fun of me whenever I said so. Anyway, I still continue calling it the same. It really doesn't matter as long whatever you make out of it turns out good!

I love pairing a motta curry with Chapathi. I can eat many many chapathi's in such instances. I am a Chapathi lover, if you didn't know that already. I can eat it 3 times a day. I also absolutely love making Chapathis at home, especially the kneading part. I equally love the portioning of the dough, rolling it out , smearing some oil, folding the dough, rolling it out into squares/ triangles/ circles depending on my mood and fancy and finally cooking it and seeing it puff up on my precious round cast iron skillet. See, I even enjoy typing out the whole Chapathi making process. I simply love it! Oh, and if you want to see that precious round cast iron skillet of mine, you can, in my 5 Minute 2 Ingredient Pizza photographs!

Now, getting on to the Motta part of the curry. This is made with hard boiled eggs. I feel the need to stress of the word 'hard' boiled eggs. It doesn't mean, the eggs are boiled until the yolks end up being rubbery, hard & chewy. I hate such eggs and always makes me want to throw up. There's a way you can make perfect hard boiled eggs.It's super simple. If you follow the steps correctly, you will always have the perfectly cooked eggs.

This curry of mine,is way too different from what Amma makes.I always fail at replicating her's here, in my kitchen. So I have to be satisfied with this version of mine, which is really good, in it's own way. One thing I hate about Motta curries when I eat out is that most people slice their onions lengthwise and don't saute it long enough that they maintain their shape and don't melt into the sauce. I like the onions and tomatoes to be diced so that they can blend into the sauce but still maintain a crunch of it's own. Yes, I'm a bit weird! Also, if you want a South Indian touch to this curry, you can garnish it with curry leaves. Or else, garnish it with cilantro!

INDIAN EGG CURRY

My own recipe

Ingredients:
4 hard boiled eggs (recipe at the end)
1/3 cup oil
2 large onions, diced
2 medium tomatoes,diced
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 cup water
1 cup thick coconut milk OR heavy cream OR whole milk
Salt to taste
1 sprig curry leaves  OR a handful chopped cilantro
Method: Heat oil in a large pan,with sides.Once the oil is hot, add the diced onions along with a pinch of salt and saute until they turn soft. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking,mushing it up occasioanlly until all the water from tomatoes have evaporated. Add the spices and cook for 2 minutes,stirring.Add water and cook until it reduces a bit.Add coconut milk/heavy cream/whole milk and let it heat through completely. Adjust seasoning.Add the boiled & sliced eggs into it. Garnish with curry leaves/cilantro and serve hot!
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How to boil eggs perfectly, everytime: Take a saucepan with tall sides and fill three quarters of it with room temperature water/ tap water. Drop in the eggs carefully.Keep the saucepan on the stove and turn on the heat. Bring it to a rolling boil and turn down the heat to medium.Set the timer for 12 minutes. Turn off the stove and take the saucepan off it. Pour out the hot water and refill the saucepan with cold tap water and let the eggs sit in it for 5 mins. Peel the eggs and use as desired.
If you don't pour out the hot water immediately after the eggs are boiled and let it sit in there for a long time, the yolks will turn greenish-gray.

Jobin wanted me to make the egg curry in a different way but when I set out to make this, I warned him that I might deviate from that route and go the way it forms in my head.And that's exactly what happened. The curry was finger licking good.It had the richness of the coconut milk, mostly because I use the tinned coconut milk.If you like your curry to be on the thin side, add more liquid as you please. I mean, any curry recipe should act as a base for you and you can always modify it to your liking! I didn't share this with Ian Vaava as I didn't want to set his mouth on fire :-) He is too tiny to handle this amount of heat!