Kerala Style Egg Curry with Coconut Milk

Boiled egg cooked with onions in a rich coconut milk gravy

 

Going back to my roots this time and cooking up my version of the popular egg curry as we make it in my good old homeland. Keralite food is full of spice and rich flavour and while I’m no expert, I certainly like to try my hand at it occasionally.

With the abundance of coconut palms in Kerala, it’s no wonder that Coconut is an indelible part of Keralite cuisine and most traditional dishes have some or the other form of coconut in it.

To get Coconut milk, you must grind raw coconut with water in a blender until you get a slurry mixture. This is then squeezed & filtered through a sieve or muslin cloth to get thick coconut milk. The mixture that is left behind in the sieve can be again grinded with more water and then again squeezed to get thin milk. This is the traditional way to get rich, delicious and completely natural coconut milk.

 My way of getting coconut milk, is to open up a pack of coconut milk powder, put 2-3 tbsps. of the powder in a cup, add lukewarm water and mix well. Viola! Thick coconut milk is ready. While this method of making coconut milk may not win any taste competitions against the traditionally made stuff, it is much easier and faster and perfect for a lazy cook like me.

Coconut milk has a naturally sweet taste. I like my curry to be spicy hence the amount of chili powder in this recipe. I use a mix of chili powders in this dish to get good heat and also to give it a rich colour. If you want your dish to be mild, you can reduce the chili.

What We Need:

Eggs – 3 nos

Onion – 2 big ones sliced
Ginger – 1 inch piece julienned
Green Chillies – 2 slit lengthwise
Curry leaves – a few
Tomatoes – 2 chopped
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Coconut Oil – 1 tbsp.
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp.
Chilli/Paprika powder – 2 tsp..
Coriander powder – ½ tsp.
Salt – As required

How We do it:

Boil the eggs, clean out the shell and cut in halves.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the curry leaves and ginger. After 2 minutes add the onions, green chillies and salt, sauté until the onions get brown.

 Now add the tomatoes and fry until they are cooked.

Add all the spice powders and fry for few minutes on a medium flame till the oil separates.

Make a hole in the centre of your pan by moving the onion mixture to the sides. Place the halved eggs- yolk side down - in the centre of the pan and cover with the onion masala. This is a little trick to lightly brown the yolk side of your egg to give it an added flavour. This will also help the yolk to maintain shape and prevent it from crumbling easily. This was a tip given by my husband who liked the yolks to be intact so he could easily pluck it out of his plate. J



Lower the heat and cover your pan to let the flavours seep into the eggs for about 5 minutes. Now add the coconut milk and very lightly mix it into the dish, taking care not to break the eggs.

Let the milk boil and take it off the heat. The gravy will thicken as it rests. Garnish with coriander leaves. Best served with Appam (a traditional Keralite bread like dish made of rice) or even roti.

 

 

Love to hear what you think!

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My Grandmother’s Special Tomato Yoghurt Curry

A simple, easy-to-cook, yummy Tomato Curry with Yoghurt

Yoghurt is very popular in Indian Cuisine and is a staple in our kitchens. Not only are the probiotics in yoghurt good for your tummy, it’s also a good source of proteins, vitamins B6 & 12 and calcium. Low fat yoghurt can also lower your cholesterols and help in reducing weight.

This Tomato Yoghurt curry has the right amount of spice and tart that makes it perfect with rice, roti or bread. This is one of my grandmother’s recipes and is a favourite of mine. Just before my marriage, I was advised to learn some basic cooking and this curry was the only one that I wanted to cook. It was while heating the oil for tempering this dish that I dropped the boiling oil and badly burnt almost my whole lower arm. This was just 2 weeks before my wedding and resulted in my wearing bandages on my wedding day (hideous!!). I remember that my grandmother was devastated and blamed herself for the mishap. The burn was unbearably painful and with every tear I dropped it was my grandmother's heart that burnt.

Since then, I use very little oil when making this. I don’t think I can ever make this dish to taste as good as her cooking, but I hope it’s close. Try it out but be careful with the oil.

What we need:

Tomato – 2 whole

Onion – 1
Green Chillies – 4
Curry leaves – A few
Ginger – ½ inch piece
Thick Yoghurt – 1 cup
Oil for tempering
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
Asofotida (hing) – a pinch
Corriander leaves for garnishing

How we do it:

Make slits in the tomato and boil in water till the skin comes off separate. Alternatively you can also microwave it on high for 5 minutes.

Remove the skin and mash up the tomato pulp until it becomes a smooth puree.

Beat the yoghurt with a cup of water to give it a smooth runny texture.

Chop the onions, ginger and green chillies.

 

Heat oil in a saucepan and add the mustard. Once mustard sputters, add the curry leaves, onions, chillies and ginger. Fry until onions turn translucent and add salt, turmeric and asafoetida.

 

Now add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and add the yoghurt.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

You can choose the consistency of the dish by adding more or little water to the yoghurt. This is my favourite accompaniment to Paranthas especially Aloo Parantha. 

 

Love to hear what you think!

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