Egg Masala

Egg Masala


It has been a good few dal recipes over the last few days so let me now post a recipe that may not appeal to all if you do not eat eggs. I am sure some will get into the debate of whether or not egg is vegetarian or not. I saw an interesting statement by a fellow blogger where she says as it is unfertilised it is vegetarian. Even if it is considered non-vegetarian, that is my limit, I cannot go anything beyond an egg. I did post an egg curry recipe sometime back. Although it was great, it was a bit elaborate. Some days I just want to have egg with a gravy so it is not dry. For those days that I crave but have little energy, I prefer to make this version. This version comes handy especially on days when I make masala dosas as the gravy itself serves like a chutney so that is one less dish to bother about. My love for this dish started only after purchasing ‘Double Horse’ brand egg roast masala. It has an ingredient, fennel, that I normally avoid in my masalas but I believe that is what is giving this spice mix its unique and appealing flavour. I believe that the fennel gives a fresh and slightly sweet flavour to the masala. If you do not have this spice mix, I will urge you to use garam masala and add about quarter teaspoon of fennel seed powder. If not you can just stick to good old garam masala. Here is the easy peasy recipe…

3-4 eggs, boiled, shelled and halved
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (optional)
2-3 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chilly powder
1 teaspoon egg roast masala powder
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Asafoetida
Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Cooking oil

Heat some oil and add the mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add the onions, ginger garlic paste and asafoetida

Once the onions soften, add the tomatoes, turmeric powder and little salt and cook until tomatoes turn mushy

Add the chilly powder and masala powder and cook until raw smell goes. Add required salt, simmer briefly and take off the flame.

Place the eggs in the onion-tomato mixture and serve!

Tastes great with dosas, rotis and rice. For a change, I tried adding scrambled eggs instead of boiled eggs and it tasted great. I wouldn't scramble the egg in the onion tomato mixture as it becomes dry and loses the gravy consistency.

Egg Stuffed Rotis

Egg Stuffed Rotis


I mentioned sometime back that I am resorting to egg to help myself and my family recover from a number of things. It is said that increase in protein intake is particularly required after a cold attack. Rotis/chapattis being a regular on the menu for dinner I thought I should incorporate eggs one night. I had no time or energy for an egg curry and hence thought I will make a simple stuffed roti. This is quite a simple recipe and I must say that you will see a few varients of egg stuffed rotis or egg paranthas coming up on this blog. This is kind of stretching scrambled egg recipe and here is how I did it...

2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Chapatti dough
Cooking oil

Heat about a teaspoon oil in a skillet and fry the onions and green chillies. You can add some ginger garlic paste as well if you like. Also add required salt

Add the eggs to the cooked onions and add little bit more oil. Keep the flame low so the eggs get cooked. Keep stirring so the eggs scramble. Do so until eggs appear cooked

Take a lemon size dough and roll to make a roti. Spoon some scrambled egg to form a uniform thin layer. Make another roti and cover the egg with it and seal the edges

(sorry for the poor photo!)

Cook both sides on heated tava. I kept the flame slightly low as it would take a bit more time for two layers of roti to get cooked. Do not keep it too low as the rotis become hard.

Serve!

You could add more spices like coriander powder, garam masala etc. to the onions, before adding the eggs. The above quantity must be enough for 3-4 rotis.

Egg Curry

Egg Curry

Although I am from a brahmin family, like many others, my mom had to give us eggs to increase our nutritional intake. It is always a matter of debate whether it is vegetarian or not. Some say as it is unfertilised egg, it is vegetarian. In a purist defenition I am what they would call an ovo-lacto-vegetarian. Ovo refers to the fact that I have egg, lacto refers to dairy products and ofcourse vegetarian. Lately I have not been keeping well and think it is to get some energy boost and went down the egg route. This is probably the first of many egg curry recipes you will see from me. I may give some other names to other recipes but let’s get started with this one now. This recipe is based on a recipe I saw in one of Mallika Badrinath’s books. If you do not eat eggs, replace them with fried or baked eggplant chunks. The list of ingredients looks long, but it is actually a simple and delicious dish..

5 large eggs, boiled
1 cup tomato puree
1 onion roughly chopped
1 onion, chopped
½ teaspoon tamarind paste
1 teaspoon chilly powder
Cooking oil
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Turmeric powder
1sprig curry leaves (optional)

For the spice powder:
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon groundnut (peanut)

Dry roast the ingredients specified for the spice powder. I usually do each of them separately as they take different times to get roasted. Cool and grind to powder

Heat some oil in a skillet and fry the roughly chopped onion until done. Add a little salt to the onion so it cooks nice and quick. Cool and grind to paste adding required water

In a skillet heat some oil and add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add the chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste and fry until it is cooked

Add tomato puree, curry leaves and the ground onion paste and some water and allow to boil

Add salt, tamarind paste, chilly powder, turmeric powder and the ground spice powder, bit more water if needed and bring to boil.

Prick the boiled eggs with a fork or use your knife to make a number of shallow cuts on the egg so that it absorbs the flavour well. Add this to the boiling gravy and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Serve hot with rice or bread!

There would be enough gravy to add one or two more eggs if you like.