Egg Curry made from a fragrant coconut paste.....
Long time, no see! Oh well.. When people ask me what happened to Keli Paan ..??!?? why has it taken a back seat since the time you started Floured, I tell them "Blogging for sure is just like a full-time job. Do you remember asking your mum what she was pondering about after lunch??!?? or what was taking her long to close the kitchen after dinner? Yup she was thinking about what do I cook for breakfast tomorrow or pack for lunch in my kids lunchbox & doing the ground work required to help her fix the meal quicker! I never quite understood why it was so hard to decide/come up with an answer to that question, when my mum told me she was deciding what to cook.. until it became a part of my life too!! "What do I cook?" is the biggest dilemma for anybody who has to cook a meal! It all starts with some mental ransacking! there involves lots of thinking on the lines of -
a. what veggie/meats in the fridge?;
b. Do I have enough to make the lunch last for dinner too?!?;
c. Oh, I don't have enough for 4 portions! damn why didn't I pick some extra!;
d. If I cook this, what is going to accompany it??!?;
e. Will my husband/kids like it?
f. Oh, not that boring recipe again for chicken!
g. Do I have enough time to make it before I head to work/after I'm back from work!
I'm sure there are umpteen number of such thoughts each one of us who have to spin an interesting meal, face everyday! Do add some of your's in the comments below! :)
Well back to my dilemma! Blogging similarly involves a lot of thinking on the lines of
a. A different/an age-old recipe or an adaptation of a friends/relatives/another bloggers recipe... giving them their due credit of course!!!
b. writing it down to make it interesting & easy to understand,
c. The food photography of course has to be attractive enough so as to make you want to go through the post.. & lure you enough to try it!!
d. Photographing food takes loads of thinking on how to plate the dish!, how to make sure there is enough natural light when you click!, props, the background etc.
e. Keeping your family & pets away from grabbing a bite till your done clicking, a very BIG challenge!! Clicking pictures in different angles, moving something so that it doesn't prove to be distracting!
f. Editing the pictures!
g. Finally posting the recipe with a lot of tagging & sharing links on FB/Instagram/Different food communities & websites!, Flickr Phew! etc.
I'm sure all the non-blogging followers of my blog will say a WOW! to all the work involved. But hey! I'm not discouraging any of you! Food blogging is awesome! Just that with all the baking I do at "Floured" I hardly cook a good enough meal to blog about or most of those recipes already happen to be up on the blog! When I have a couple of days free from blogging I'm researching on some new cake recipes or orders that I have next, or I just sit back watch a good movie, play with my pet Sherlock & relax!
So that's my story! When I started this post I was wondering what do I write! I have been so out of touch..! But I guess I can always blabber about something or the other! :P
Moving on to this recipe.. its been ages since I tried a different recipe for eggs & also its been a while since I cooked some egg curry! The usual ritual
Me: "Keshav!, what would you like for lunch?".
Keshav: " Some egg curry! its been long!"
Thank god for once I got a definite reply from him.. else the usual response " Make anything"! Men! what is "anything"!!??! Grrr!!
This egg curry has a few lovely flavours coming in from some dried spices which are oil roasted. Most of the ingredients of this dish are oil roasted before grinding them all into a lovely fragrant paste.
Ingredients: (Serves 4) Preparation Time: 40 mins
Hard boiled eggs - 8
Grated Coconut - 6 tbsp
Garlic cloves - 6-7, peeled
Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onions - 3 medium-sized
Tomatoes - 3 medium-sized
Cloves - 2
Dagad/Stone Flower - 1/2 inch piece
Cardamom - 1 small
Green Chilli's - 1 large or 2 small
Dried Red Chilli - 1, stem removed
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves - 2-3 sprigs for garnishing, use the stem too
Kerala fish tamarind - 1 piece
Cooking oil - 1 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp
Salt to taste
Heat about 1/2 tsp of oil in a fry pan. Set heat to medium. When the oil is hot start frying the following mentioned ingredients one by one. Once each ingredient is roasted take it out & keep it aside in a plate to cool. Remember you don't need to fry them too long, roast the spices till they are fragrant & the others till they wilt. Keep adding 1/2 tsp of oil whenever the oil is used up by the ingredients.
Ingredients to be oil roasted
1. Garlic cloves,
2. Roughly chop 2 onions & fry them till they are translucent.
3. Roughly chop all three Tomatoes & fry them till the skin shrinks.
4. Cardamom & cloves & stone flower can be roasted together.
5. Coriander seeds
6. Fennel seeds, dried red chilli & grated coconut can go together,
Once all these roasted ingredients cool, put them all together in a food processor along with leaves of 1 sprig of curry leaves & grind them all together into a smooth paste. Add some water if required.
Once the paste is ready, de-shell the hard-boiled eggs & keep aside. Finely chop the 3rd onion.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pot. Once the oil heats up, maintain heat at medium & add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds. Once they splutter add the curry leaves. Next add the finely chopped onions & fry till they turn translucent. Now add the freshly ground spice paste. Add 1/2 a litre of hot water & mix well. Simmer once the curry begins to come to a boil & till raw flavours fade away. Add salt to taste.
Pierce the eggs with a fork in 4-5 places so as to let the eggs absorb some flavours of the curry. Once the raw flavours have faded away, add the pierced eggs & let the curry simmer for another 2-3 minutes & then turn off the heat.
Tip:If you choose to eat this curry with rice then make sure the curry isn't too thick & adjust with water accordingly.
You can also add some freshly ground pepper just after the eggs for some extra flavour if you like.
Garnish with some extra curry leaves & some chopped coriander leaves.
Serving Suggestions:
Serve hot with some steamed rice/ along with some hot chapatti's or phulka's.
