Egg Curry



Egg curry or Anda Curry is my favorite comfort food. When I am not in a mood to cook something elaborate but still want to tingle my taste buds, then Egg Curry comes in handy. Easy to cook dish but delicious and mouth watering. 

When you forget to buy your grocery but still have eggs in your refrigerator, this is the perfect meal to cook. It is simple to cook. Boil some eggs and make a simple gravy consisting of onion, tomatoes and ginger-garlic paste. You could keep the eggs to boil and simultaneously start making the gravy. Assemble gravy and eggs and eat it with roti, rice or any other bread of your choice. 

Many readers asked for a tip for perfectly boiled eggs. So here I am sharing  my way of cooking hard boiled eggs. Take a saucepan. Immerse the eggs  completely in water. Water should be at room temperature. Keep the pan uncovered on the gas stove at low flame. Let them boil for 15 minutes. After 15 min switch off the gas. Let them sit in hot water for another five minutes. After that drain the water and immerse them in normal water for 2 minutes. Take out water and roll them on the working shelf. This process will loosen the shell of the egg and then you can peel them easily. Just try it and let me know. 

So without further to do we will get started with our delicious and simple Egg Curry. 

We Need:

• 4 Eggs. 

• 2 Medium Sized Onions

• 2 Tomatoes. 

• 6 Cloves of Garlic

• 1" Piece of Ginger

• 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds

• 2 Cloves

• 2 Whole Green Chillies

• 2 Whole Red Chillies

• 4 Tbsp Cooking Oil

• 1Tsp Turmeric Powder

• 1 Tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder

• 1 Tsp Kasuri Methi

• 1 Tsp Salt or as per your taste. 

Here We Go:

1. Take a pan. Fill it half with water. Put eggs in it. Boil on low flame for 15 minutes. Let it sit in hot water. Drain the water. Peel the eggs and set aside. 

   

2. Pierce whole eggs with a fork, making small holes over the surface. Piercing 8-10 times would do the job. Take all the oil in a pan and fry the whole, pierced eggs till golden brown. 

   
   

3. Peel onions and make a coarse paste of them in a grinder jar. Make a paste of ginger and garlic too. Take oil in a pan. When oil is heated add cumin seeds, cloves, whole dried red chillies, green whole chillies . When they start Spluttering add coarsely ground onions. Fry until onions turn pink. 

   
   
   
   

4. Now add the Ginger & garlic paste. Saute it well till the raw smell goes away. Puree the tomatoes in a grinder jar. Now add this puree to the pan. Also add turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder and kasuri methi to it. Saute till the masala leaves oil near its edges.

   
   
   

5. Add 300 ml of water to the fried masala. Mix well. Cover the pan and let it boil on slow flame for 10 minutes or till the oil comes on the surface. Keep on checking for the oil.

   
   

6. Take this gravy out in a dish. Add the whole fried eggs to the gravy. Or you can cut them in half and serve with gravy. Serve hot with rice or chapati and enjoy your meal. 

   

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking time : 30 minutes. 

Tips:

While making masala for gravy, add salt along with tomatoes because this way the tomatoes  cook fast. 

Malai Soya Chaap

Soyabean has various health benefits, one main benefit is that it's enriched with protein. On top of that it is great in taste too. Soya chaap is a very popular  vegetarian dish known for its meaty flavour and exotic taste. You will definitely find it on the menus of buffets, Punjabi weddings and parties. Though a variety of dishes are made with Soya chaap, malai soya chaap rules the menu because of its rich taste just like other tikkas. If you are a fan of tikkas this will for sure tickle your taste buds. 

You can get frozen Soya chaap from your local grocery store or even at Amazon. But be careful to read the label- it should be made from soyabean flour but many manufacturers add all purpose flour to bind the dough. If that is the case then your chaap will not be gluten free. 

The dough is wrapped on wooden sticks and before making any soya dish you have to remove them. To remove the stick, hold the chaap with one hand and with the other hand pull the stick out. See it is so easy to remove them! Then cut the chaap into bite size pieces just like tikkas and wash them with water. I have used store bought frozen chaap available at stores who sell frozen food. These are soft and chewy and take less time to cook. 

The tikkas are marinated for 30 to 45 minutes in spices and curd. Later they are cooked for 5 to 10 minutes with cashew paste . Lastly as the name suggests Malai or cream is added to it. You can serve it with rotis, rumali rotis , naan and paranthas. If you have never tasted it, make it once and it will be on your regular menu. 

We Need:

• 500 gm Soya Chaap

• 100 gm Thick Curd. ( Not Sour) 

• 2 Tbsp Cashew Paste

• 5 Tbsp Cream

• 1 Green Cardamom

• 2 Cloves

• 2 Green Chillies

• 2 Tbsp Dried fenugreek leaves

• 1 Tsp Black Pepper

• 1 Lemon

• 2" Piece of Ginger 

• 1 Tbsp finely chopped Garlic

• 2 Tbsp Cooking Oil

• 2 Tbsp Yellow Butter

• 1 Tsp Salt or to taste

Here We go:

1.  Remove Sticks from Soya Chaap by pulling them out. These are easy to remove. 

   
   

2. Cut them into pieces like tikkas and immerse them in water for 2 minutes only. This will help in removing extra flour from them. Stain them in a sieve and keep aside for 5 minutes to remove extra water. 

   
   
   

3. Grind together green chillies, ginger, green cardamom and cloves. Add little water if required to make a paste. 

4. For marination,  add this paste, thick curd, lemon juice, black pepper powder, fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi), salt and lemon juice in a bowl. Mix everything together. Add soya chaap pieces to the marinade. Make sure to coat every piece with the marinade. Use your hands. Have fun. Set aside for 30 minutes. 

   

5. Heat a pan. Add butter & oil to it. Add chopped garlic. Saute till light pink. Add marinated chaaps to it. Mix Chaap well with butter and garlic. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 5 min on low flame. Don't forget to turn them the other side to avoid burning. 

   
   

6. As soya chaap are very soft, they will be done in 5 minutes. Now add cashew nut paste and saute for another 2 minutes. You can add a little water if you want to adjust the consistency. 

   

7. Add cream and cover the pan for 2 to 3 minutes or till you see some oil on the surface. Now turn off the flame. 

   
   

8. Take out in a bowl and serve hot with chapati, naan, paratha or rumali roti according to your choice. 

   

Preparation Time : 10 minutes. 

Marination Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes. 

Tips: 

Use fresh and thick curd for marination. Curd shouldn't be sour. 

To avoid burning the butter, add it after adding oil in the pan. Instead of the other way round. 

You can serve it as a snack as well as main course. For main course you can add a little water to adjust its consistency. 

Before cooking, Avoid keeping them in water for more than two minutes, as it will spoil the shape and taste of chop. Just Wash and stain them. Be very brief. 

Sambhar Idli... the Easy Way

Sambar Idli is or vada sambar is one of my family's favorite Sunday brunch. The hot steaming sambar with rava idli and coconut coriander chutney makes everyone's taste buds tingle. Today we are making sambhar through a really quick recipe. As you already know, I prefer to keep my recipes easy to follow and in such a way that the dish does not take much time to prepare. My version of Sambhar can be made quickly in the morning to carry it in tiffin as well as for breakfast. With it we are making rava idlis which also don't require much effort. Also, we are using those veggies which cook fast. Sambhar can be made with masoor dal, moong dal orTur Dal. But I prefer to make it with Tur Dal. We first steam tur dal and then mash it properly to get a smooth consistency. Then add vegetables having less cooking time (like carrot and beans) to it. Later on it is tampered with curry leaves, hing, mustard and whole red chillies. 

We are also making a quick chutney to go with idli sambhar, consisting of Dessicated coconut, green chillies, coriander leaves ,salt and peanuts. This is healthy and nutritious too. So you can cook up this whole meal of three elements in about 45 minutes. Please find the recipe below with step by step pictures. 

We need:

For Sambar:

• 1 Cup. Tur Dal

• ½ Cup Cauliflower

• ½ Cup Beans

• ½ Cup Shallots / or onions

• ½ Cup Diced Tomatoes

• 1 Tbsp Ginger

• 1 Green Chilli

• 1" Piece of Jaggery ( optional) 

• 50 gm of Tamarind soaked in water/ 2 spoons of ready-made tamarind paste

• 2 Tbsp Sambhar Masala Powder 

• 1 Tsp of Turmeric Powder

• 1 Tsp Kashmiri Mirch Powder

• 1Tsp Oil

• 1 Tsp Salt or to taste. 

For Tampering:

• 4 Tbsp Oil

• 1 Tbsp Mustard Seeds

• 1 Tbsp washed Urad Dal (without skin)

• 1 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds

• 4 Whole Red Chillies

• A pinch of Asafoetida (Hing) 

• 7 to 8 Curry Leaves. 

For Idlis:

• 1 Cup Semolina (Sooji) 

• 1 Cup Curd

• 1 Sachet Eno fruit Salt

• 1 Tsp. Salt

Here We Go:

1. Wash Tur Dal till the water runs clear. Soak it for 10 min. Soak Tamarind in a cup of water and keep aside. 

   
   

2. Next, in a bowl, mix Sooji, Curd and salt. Set aside for 15 min.

   

3. Take a pressure cook and add  washed tur dal to it along with 3 cups of water, turmeric powder salt and a spoon of oil. Pressure  Cook for 5 whistles. Let it cool on its own.do not force the steam out. 

   
   
   

4. Meantime dice all the vegetables in the shape and size of your choice. 

   

5. When the pressure in the cooker is released, open the pressure cooker and mash the Dal till it is smooth in texture. Take out in a bowl and keep aside.

   

6. Mash the already soaked tamarind. Stain the water and discard the seeds.

7. In the same pressure cooker add all the diced vegetables, onions, ginger, tomato, turmeric powder, Sambar Powder and salt. Add the tamarind water and Jaggery too. Pressure cook these vegetables upto one whistle. Let the pressure release on its own. After that add the mashed tur dal to it. Mix everything well. If the Sambhar appears too thick add water to adjust the consistency. When you add water, after that don’t forget to boil the Sambhar again so that the water is incorporated to it and it becomes one homogenous whole.

   

8. Meantime the sooji and curd batter is ready as sooji is soft and has soaked water. If the batter is too thick add a little water, but not more than ¼ th Cup. Mix well. Add Eno salt to the Idli batter and add a little water to it for fermentation. Grease the idli mould . Put a small amount of batter in each mould. 

   
   
   

9. Fill water in the Idli maker and put the idli mould in it. Keep the flame on low. It will take around 15 minutes for the idli to cook. To check if the idli has cooked, insert a toothpick in the idli and if it comes out clean, switch off the gas and let the idlis remain in stand for a few minutes. Only after giving it standing time, demould the idlis one by one and keep them in hot case so they stay warm. 

10. Time to temper the Sambhar. Heat a pan and add 4 Tbsp oil to it. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds (Rai), whole red chillies, urad dal and Hing to it. When the whole red chillies turn dark in colour add Curry leaves and Kashmiri Red Chilli powder to it. Be careful not to burn the chillies otherwise the taste and colour of the Sambhar will be spoiled.

    
    

11.  Put this tempering in the  sambhar and Let it boil for a few minutes for all the flavours to mix in the Sambhar. Serve Hot with Idli. 

    

    

Preparation Time For Sambar : 15 min. 

Cooking Time for Sambar : 20 min. 

Preparation Time for Idli: 15 min. 

Cooking Time : 15 min. 

Collective Cooking time will be 45 min. 

Tips:

Mash the Tur Dal properly . The grains shouldn't be visible. This will give a smooth texture to the sambhar. 

Always Boil the sambhar for a few minutes after tempering for the flavours to mix well in it. 

Try giving tempering to the idli batter with mustard seeds, it will enhance the taste of the idli as well as give softness to it.