Desire. Which means a strong emotion of longing for some person or object or outcome. The emotion that does not know any limit. The emotion that pushes our boundaries. The emotion that also expands our possibilities. It was nothing but the desire to marry Juliet that made young Romeo lose his life. It is the sheer desire of light that makes insects jump in the flame. It was the desire to marry Sita that brought downfall of Ravana. And it was the desire for the throne of Hastinapur that led to the epic war of Kurukshetra.
So strong is the emotion of desire that it has the power to change the course of history. Obviously, no prize for guessing, it can surely change the course of menu in my kitchen 😉
As we all know, off-late we all are forcibly stuck at the confine of our home, owing to the second wave of Covid-19. And among the things that needs to be taken care of including maintaining hygiene, exercising etc, is addressing our simplest and legitimate desire which has a direct impact on our mental health, especially during this fragile situation. And hence attending to a petty desire like having something good for lunch or dinner also becomes a priority. And what else can one think of, other than egg during this trying time.
The versatile egg can steal the show during breakfast and can equally dominate the lunch and dinner table. Thus, when resources are minimum, chaos is the order of the day and desire is at its optimum, I chose the ‘Spicy Egg Curry’ as my mate, to attend to my desire to have something good and calm my nerves. This ‘Spicy Egg Curry’ is a very regular dish in any household in eastern part of the country (of course with subtle personal variation) and the dish I took ages to get it right as per the parameter set by my taste buds.
Here is the step-by-step recipe of Spicy Egg Curry.
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Recipe: Spicy Egg Curry
Time Taken To Pressure Cook Eggs: 10 minutes Preparation Time: Around 23 minutes (includes peeling eggs) Cooking Time: Around 1 hour 20 minutes (includes frying eggs separately) Equipment Used: Pressure cooker, a knife, grinder, 2 pans, turner
Ingredients:
- 7 eggs
- 15 cloves of garlic
- 0.75inch X 0.75inch X 0.50inch ginger
- 3 medium to big sized onions
- 1 tomato
- 1 green chilli
- 1 and ½ teaspoon cumin seeds or jeera
- 8 tablespoons mustard oil
- 1 red chilli
- 6 cinnamon pieces (around 1cm X 1cm)
- ½ teaspoon pepper corn
- ¾ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 3 teaspoon salt
- 1 and ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder or jeera powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 3 cups water, water for boiling eggs and grinding spices
Method:
- Pressure-cook the eggs till 1 whistle
- In the meantime peel the garlic cloves and the ginger
- Peel and cut the onions into four pieces and cut the tomato into two halves
- Grind the ingredients (garlic cloves, ginger, onion, tomato) to a smooth paste after adding green chilli and cumin seeds
- Heat a wok
- Heat 6 tablespoon mustard oil in the wok once the wok is hot
- Break red chilli into the oil, once the oil is hot and smoke comes out. Add cinnamon pieces and pepper corn into the hot oil for tempering
- Now pour the ground paste into the wok
- Add ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon jeera powder, and ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- Stir and mix the ingredients. Cover the pan and let the spices cook on sim
- Peel and slit each egg to make provision for the spices to go inside the eggs
- Heat another pan and heat 2 tablespoon mustard oil once the pan is hot
- Fry the eggs in the pan after adding ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and ½ teaspoon salt
- Transfer the fried eggs into the wok when the spices are almost fried or fat is separated from the spices
- Add 3 cups water into the wok, or add water as per the consistency of curry you prefer
- Wait till bubbles form
- Taste and adjust salt and sugar. I have added 2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar
- Stir to spread salt and sugar. Switch off the flame and enjoy the curry with rice or roti
Pressure-cook the eggs.
Grind garlic cloves, ginger, onion, tomato, green chilli and cumin seeds to a smooth paste.
Heat 6 tablespoon mustard oil and temper the oil with red chilli, cinnamon sticks and pepper corns.
Pour the ground paste along with ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon jeera powder, and ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder.
Stir and mix the ingredients and cover the pan and let the spices cook on sim.
Peel and slit each egg.
Heat 2 tablespoon mustard oil in another pan.
Fry the eggs after adding ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and ½ teaspoon salt.
Transfer the fried eggs into the wok when the spices are almost fried.
Add water into the wok.
Taste and adjust salt and sugar as bubbles form. Stir to spread salt and sugar and switch off the flame.
Tips:
- Use any process to boil eggs. Pressure cooking is not mandatory
- You may alter the number of eggs depending on your requirement
- Add water little by little while grinding spices
- To avoid wastage of ground spices, add little water in the grinder after emptying the same, shake the grinder with hand and empty the contents of the grinder into the wok
- Fry the eggs evenly from all sides till the outer most skin of the eggs become little harder and darker
- This Spicy Egg Curry goes equally well with steamed rice and chapattis
