Friday, August 11, 2006

Unde ki kari - egg curry - North Indian style

I don't really know if it is a North Indian style egg curry - you'll just have to take Neelam Batra's word for it as I got the recipe from her book 1000 Indian Recipes.



I'll vouch for the taste, though, and Pete will as well. He's far fonder of egg curries than I am, but this was very tasty even by my exacting standards *wink*. I would, of course, have preferred it spiked with more chillies, but since Pete had requested that I make the curry, I kinda figured that he would want to actually be able eat it, not just look at it and salivate (like he does with the sambar I make for myself occasionally). So here it is.

Recipe for:
Egg curry - North Indian style



Ingredients:



3 medium tomatoes, pureed
1 large red onion, pureed
4 eggs, hard boiled, peeled and cut in half
1/2 cup yogurt
1 htsp coriander seeds
1 htsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp paprika
1 htsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)



3-4 green chillies, minced (to taste)
2-3 dry red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp powdered almonds
2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. In a small pan, dry toast the coriander seeds and cumin seeds till aromatic (45 seconds or so). Cool, then powder finely with a mortar and pestle. Reserve.



2. Heat one tbsp oil and fry the pureed onions with the minced green chillies till they change colour and lose moisture.



3. Add the pureed tomatoes and fry on medium-high till the sauce is thick. Stir in the turmeric powder, powdered coriander-cumin and paprika.



4. Cook for 3-4 minutes on high. Add the yogurt little by little, stirring all the while so that it does not curdle.



5. Pour in 2 cups water and salt to taste, and bring to a boil.



6. When the sauce gets to the consistency you want, add the eggs, carefully ladling the sauce over them to cover. Turn down the heat to a simmer, adding another 1/2 cup of water if required, and let the curry bubble undisturbed for about 7 minutes.



7. Now heat the remaining tbsp of oil in a small pan. Add the dry red chillies (leave them whole) and fry them for 30 seconds. Add the kasuri methi and let it fry for a few seconds, then add the powdered almonds. Stir it on high for about 30 seconds, then add it to the sauce and mix it in gently, careful not to break the eggs.



8. Let the curry simmer for 5 minutes longer. Serve hot with rice or roti, garnished with coriander leaves.

12 comments:

indosungod said...

Shammi love your picture with all the powders looks like a picture of space with comets and meteors.

Give me egg curry any day, this is a new variation that I am sure gonna try

Anonymous said...

Wow!! wanted to try making egg curry for so long and now you posted it,, the second last picture where we seee the steam coming , i could almost smell the spicy egg curry :)). what's the white thingy in the last picture?? is it coconut??Easy recipe and great pictures.

Eve

archana said...

What a rich gravy !!! Adding powdered almonds to an egg curry is really new and very refreshing to me. This is going to be my next egg curry for sure. Thank you Shammi dear.

Anonymous said...

Indosungod: hehe, now that you mention it, it does look like a pic of space!

Eve: The "white thingy" is the powdered almonds added in Step 7 :)

Archana: Hope you too like it!

Rays Of Sun said...

Hey~
Have been following your recipes..Like them for their simplicity and yet tasting great!
So far tried..tandoori paneer and just now Vanilla cake is baking!
I could not resist the temptation, so while it was hot. Just cut myself a small piece.
It tasted great. esp coz it was less sweet and soft too:D
BUT, it tasted little bitter somewhere..!
Dont know what must have gone wrong:(
Any tips would be welcome:)
Thanks for these recipes:)
Waiting for more:D

RP said...

That is a beautiful gravy. I love egg curry!
Loved your pictorial.

Mika said...

Hi Shammi- It is great that you are giving Ms. Batra's book so much air-time. It is a great book. Wish I used it so much.

Anonymous said...

Hello Shammi,
I think it's great: I just made a simular recepy only last night.
Greet, Barbara (from postcrossing)

Anonymous said...

I made this curry just now and it came out well. Thank you for posting the recipe.

galadriel said...

Love your recipes!! I have one question though. Every time I grind onions raw I end up with a some what bitter taste in my gravy. I always have to saute the onions before grinding them. Does this happen to you too? I've tried so many recipes where they ask you to grind the onion raw and it's always the same thing in the end!

Shammi said...

Galadriel: Absolutely! I usually saute my onions before pureeing them (unless I'm following a recipe exactly, as in this case). That, or you can boil/steam the roughly chopped onions till soft with a little water before grinding - that gives a really silky finish to the gravy AND reduces the pungency of the onions.

OPM said...

so easy, even a guy can make it... yumm!