Avantika's Kitchen Delights: Egg Curry (Yogurt based curry, without tomatoes)

It is a delicious spicy curry in which eggs are hard boiled and peeled, slightly browned, then added and simmered into a curry prepared from Onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, curd and basic Indian dry spices. The eggs and the curry when simmered together forms a good flavour and is enjoyed by those who don’t eat meat but are bored of the daily dal and curry and want a change. It can be included in lunch or in dinner as a curry recipe.

INGREDIENTS :

(1) 6 Eggs (Boiled and peeled)

(2) 100 gms / 1 bowl of Yogurt (Well beaten, if using thick yogurt then, blend with 4 tablespoon of water)

(3) 2 large sized or 3 medium sized Onions, finely chopped or grated

(4) Cooking oil

(5) 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds

(6) Cinnamon sticks / Dalchini - 2 pieces

(7) 2 Bay leaves / Tej patta

(8) 1 teaspoon of Ginger Garlic paste

(9) 1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric powder / Haldi

(10) 1 teaspoon of Cumin / Jeera powder

(11) 1 tea spoon of Coriander / Dhania powder

(12) 3/4 teaspoon Kashmiri lal mirch powder / Red chilli powder

(13) 3/4 teaspoon of Garam Masala powder

(14) 1/4 teaspoon of Amchoor powder

(15) Coriander / Cilantro leaves for garnishing

(16) Salt to taste

(17) Water for cooking

PREPARATION :

(1) Put 6 eggs in a large or medium sized pot and fill it with water so that there is atleast an inch of water above the eggs. Add a pinch of salt. Heat the pot on a low heat for 15 minutes to hard boil the eggs. Adding salt while hard boiling eggs will make peeling the eggs easier.

Turn off the flame after the end of 15 minutes. Transfer the eggs into a utensil containing cold water as soon as you take them out of the pot to stop the cooking immediately. Otherwise, the eggs will continue cooking even after you have taken them out of the water. Then peel the eggs and keep aside.

6 eggs taken in a pot/utensils

Add water and 1 teaspoon of salt

Hard boil the eggs for 15 mins on a low flame

Hard boiled eggs

Hard boiled eggs peeled

(2) Mince the Onions using a food chopper and collect in a bowl as shown in the image.

Minced Onions

METHOD :

(1) Heat oil in a kadhai / wok. Add Bay leaves / Tej patta and Cinnamon sticks / Dalchini to the warm oil. After 30 seconds, add 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds. When these start spluttering, add chopped Onions and sauté till they turn light brown in colour (4-5 minutes).

(2) Add all the dry spice powders like Turmeric powder, Cumin powder, Coriander powder, Garam masala powder, Kashmiri lal mirch powder, Amchoor powder in measures as given in the ingredients list and fry the Onion mixture for 1 minute.

(3) Then add Ginger Garlic paste to the Onion mixture and fry for two minutes.

(4) Add the well beaten yogurt to the Onion mixture and mix well.

(5) Add salt to taste, approximately 1 teaspoon and mix well.

(6) Add two glass of water to it and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes on a low flame.

(7) In the meantime, one by one take the boiled and peeled eggs, and with a fork, prick the eggs to form small holes at one or two places on the surface of each egg. This will prevent the spluttering of the eggs when you fry them in a oil for browning the eggs.

In a separate kadhai / wok take 6-8 tablespoon of oil. Add a little amount of salt and half teaspoon of turmeric powder. Then put the boiled and peeled eggs (after pricking with fork) in the warm oil and roll gently to brown it a bit on few sides of the surface. Don’t brown too much as it may cause the surface of the egg to become rubbery and unpleasant in taste. I did the process in two batches, three eggs in each batch.

You can see that as this was my first try of the recipe, the eggs were not peeled perfectly and were ripped off at some parts and I still went ahead and fried it. It still tastes good and appears good after browning a bit.

(8) Add the browned eggs to the curry and simmer again for 5 minutes. Depending upon the consistency of the curry required, adjust the quantity of water added. Once the eggs absorb the curry and the curry reaches the desired consistency, turn off the gas flame. Egg curry is ready.