Egg Masala Dry

Now I don't have a story to go with this, we are going directly to our recipe. I can almost hear some of you jumping with joy because of the escape from my boring rants! :)

Egg Masala Dry

Serves 2

What we need:

Boiled eggs - 2 to 3

Onion, medium sized - 1, finely chopped

Tomato, medium sized - 1, finely chopped

Coriander, finely chopped - 3 to 4 spoons

Green chilli - 1 or 2, minced

Garlic - 2 to 3 pods, minced

Cumin (Jeera) seeds - 1 tbsp.

Cumin Powder - 1 tbsp.

Coriander (Dhania) Powder - 1 tbsp.

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Garam Masala - a pinch Optional

Kasoori Methi - 2 tbsp, crushed

Mint leaves, chopped - 8 to 10 leaves

Salt - as needed

Oil - 3 tbsp.

How to do:

1. Boil the eggs, remove the shell and cut them into quarters.

2. Heat oil and add the cumin seeds. When they start to sizzle, add onions and salt.

3. Fry till the onions turn soft, and add turmeric powder, green chilli and garlic. Once they are done, add tomatoes and mint leaves.

4. In 2 or 3 minutes, tomatoes will be done and will start to pulp out. Then throw in the dry spice powders (Cumin, Dhania, a pinch of Garam masala). Sprinkle little water to avoid burning.

5. When the mixture starts to get lumpy texture, add the boiled eggs. Mix slowly and carefully to coat them with the masala.

6. Let this sit for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the crushed Kasoori Methi and remove from flame.

Garnish with coriander. Goes well with Rotis, Naan as dry side-dish. Try this also with Sambar rice, or rasam rice.

I always add a few mint leaves to most of the egg-based dishes, because I don't like the smell of egg when it starts cooling down and the overwhelming flavor of mint covers it.

Egg Fried Rice and Gobi Manchurian

Of late, I have started realising the demerits of being abroad. First thing that comes screaming is "INDIAN FOOD". Oh yes, we do have a lots of Indian restaurants here, but none of them serve the dishes in their original spiced versions. (Looks like the chefs have lost the cook-books!) And whenever I order for a (read: in quotes) spicy dish, I invariably find fresh green chillies sticking out of my bowl. Phew...

So my little kitchen often transforms into Chinese, Tandoori, South-Indian restaurants, desperately trying to recreate the magics. The following is one such attempt turned quite successful. Now enough of my rambling, over to our recipe!

Egg Fried Rice
Eggs cooked with sauteed onion and rice
Serves 2

What we need:Eggs - 3 to 4
Rice - 1 Cup, cooked
Onion, medium sized - 1, sliced
Green chillies - 2 to 3, finely chopped
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp.
Pepper powder - 1 tbsp.
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp.
Salt - as needed
Oil - as needed
How to do:1. Cook the rice and set aside. The grains of the rice should be separate.
2. Break the eggs in a separate bowl and beat them well. Add a little salt and mix well. Set it aside.
3. Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan. Add onion, green chillies and ginger-garlic paste.
4. Fry well till the onion turns soft.Now add pepper powder, salt.
5. Slowly add the beaten eggs, and keep stirring. Scramble them and keep mixing till the eggs are cooked and broken.
6. Now add the rice and mix gently. Add soy sauce and mix well. Check and adjust the seasoning and remove from flame.

Note: You can add chopped beans, carrot to make it more colorful and nutritious.

Gobi Manchurian
Indian version of Cauliflower Manchurian
Serves 2
What we need:Cauliflower, medium sized - 1
Onion, medium sized - 1, finely chopped
Tomato paste - 2 tbsp.
Tomato sauce or ketchup - 1 tbsp. Optional
Garlic - 3 to 4 pods, minced
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp.
Green onions (Spring Onions) - 3 to 4 sprigs
Green Chillies - 2 to 3, minced
Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp.
Corn flour - 2 tbsp. heaped
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp.
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp.
Water - as needed

For the batter:Corn flour - 5 tbsp. heaped
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp.
Oil - 6 to 7 tbsp.
Salt - as needed
Water - as needed

How to do:
Part 1:
1. Pick the cauliflower into medium sized florets and wash them well. Drain and set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix corn flour, chilli powder, salt. Add water slowly to make batter. The consistency should almost be like a dosa batter.
3. Heat oil in a deep pan. Dip the florets into the batter and drop in the oil. Fry well till they turn golden brown. Do not coat the florets with too much batter, as it will become soggy in the gravy.
4. Drain in a kitchen towel and set aside.

Part 2:1. Heat oil in a kadai. Add the onions, green chillies and garlic. Add salt and fry well till the onions turn soft.
2. Add the tomato paste, tomato ketchup (optional) and chilli powder. Mix well.
3. Add half of the spring onions, soya sauce. Now add half a cup of water.
4. Mix 2 tbsp. of corn flour with little water and make a paste. Take care that all the lumps are dissolved.
5. Add this to the boiling gravy, and keep stirring. Now the gravy will start to thicken.
6. Add the fried Cauliflower florets and coat them evenly with the mixture.

Garnish with the remaining spring onions.
Note: For dinner parties, you can make part 1 and part 2 before hand and leave them aside. When you are ready to serve, heat the mixture a little, add the florets, mix well and serve immediately.

To relish this as a gravy, in step 3, add 2 cups of water.
Serve together Egg Fried rice and Gobi Manchurian and earn a pat-on-the-shoulder from your loved ones! :)

Egg Dosa

Like any other child, I used to be very rebellious when it comes to eating food.. But take me to a restaurant; I'd happily munch down dosas, chole baturas without complaining. I wasn't particularly fond of any rice items and used to survive on MAGGI and dosa, to an extent! ;) This Egg dosa was born out of such desperate attempt of Mom to make me eat egg. So when she served me this, I thought it was dosa and gulped it down without a second look! Now years later, I still love that dosa.

It doesn't taste much like egg when eaten hot (unless you are an avid foodie, can't make out much difference!). Do try this out, and let me know your comments.

Egg Dosa
Rice based Pan cake cooked with Egg
Makes 3 to 4

What we need:
Dosa batter - 2 to 3 cups
Eggs - 1 or 2
Oil - as needed
Salt - as needed

How to do:
1. Break the eggs in a bowl and beat them well. Salt them lightly if needed.
2. Pour this mixture into the bowl of Dosa batter and mix well.
3. Make dosas as usual.

Serve with tomato or chilli sauce.

Quick Hyderabadi Egg Biriyani

As I had already disclaimed (is that a right word?), I am not very used to elaborate cooking and I don't try out recipes that require a lot of time and effort. I do accept that some of the authentic recipes taste best when slow-cooked with the correct ingredients. But I always find out a short-cut or a easy method to bring out the near-best of the same recipe. And that's how I discovered how to make quick, easy yet a ROYAL HYDERABADI BIRIYANI.

Being a hard-core EGG-ITARIAN (Oh, thats the term we have coined for egg-eating vegetarians! Funny, uh?) I just drool at the idea of a lip-smacking Hyderabadi biriyani! I resolved to find out a home-cooked method for this elaborate biriyani. I went over a few methods of cooking egg biriyani, and then tested out some of them, with a few additions here, and some subtractions there, and adding some extra ingredients and lo!!! The end-result was a lip-smacking, delicious biriyani fit for the king! And my king, V happily relished his share!

So here I am, sharing the easy way of doing the same!

Hyderabadi Egg Biriyani

Basmati Rice and eggs cooked and flavoured with authentic Garam masala

Serves 2

What we need:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups

Eggs - 2 to 3

Onion, big sized - 1, thinly sliced

Green chillies - 3, vertically slit

Whole garam masala - a handful

(Cloves - 3, Tej patta - 1 piece, Cardamom, broken - 3 to 4, Bay leaf - 1, Fennel seeds/Saunf/Sombu - 1 tbsp.)

Cumin (Jeera) seeds - 2 tbsp.

Pepper corn - 5 to 6

Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp. Optional

Salt - as needed

Water - 3 cups

Mint/Pudina leaves - few

Corainder leaves, finely chopped - 3 tbsp.

Oil/Ghee - 5 to 6 tbsp.

How to do:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice for about 30 minutes.

2. Boil the eggs separately, peel and make some slits in them.

3. Heat a heavy bottomed vessel (preferably non-stick) and heat oil/ghee.

4. Add the whole garam masala, cumin and pepper-corns.

5. When they start to sizzle out, add the slit green chillies and onion.

6. Fry till the onions become translucent, soft and starts to brown.

7. Throw in the mint leaves and half of the corainder leaves, a pinch of garam masala and stir well.

8. Now drain and add the rice. Mix well until the water is absorbed and the rice turns a little hard.

9. Add the water (1.5 cups of water for 1 cup of rice), eggs, salt. Close the vessel/pan with a lid and cook on medium flame for about 20 minutes.

10. When all the water is absorbed and holes start to appear on the surface, reduce the flame, open the lid and mix well with a wooden spatula. Take care not to break the rice. Let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.

11. Remove from flame and garnish with the remaining corainder.

Serve hot with onion, cucumber or plain spiced raitha.

Egg-xilarating Egg-perience

EGGS - I love them. Though we hail from an orthodox community, where even garlic and onions are untouchables, eggs were exceptions for the sake of our health.

Eggs were mostly cooked in a very repetitive way in our homes, either plain omelette's or just boiled eggs. Though we don't complain (we just love to eat them in any form!), I have started trying out various other ways. And I was surprised to read in one of our blogger buddies page, that Eggs can be cooked in more than a 100 ways.

A simple egg curry for rice and rotis, that goes well with a papad or by itself! The base is the usual curry we do for most of the gravies; so it's not something new!! But for all those who love egg, this is a must-do recipe.

Egg Masala

Boiled eggs cooked in a mild onion-tomato gravy

Serves 2

What we need:

Boiled Eggs - 2 to 3

Onion, medium sized - 2

Tomatoes, medium sized - 2

Chilli powder - 2 tbsp.

Cumin (Jeera) powder - 1 tbsp.

Corainder (Dhania) powder - 1 tbsp.

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp.

Green chillies, chopped - 2 (Optional)
Cumin (Jeera) seeds - 1 tbsp.

Salt - as needed

Water - as needed

Oil - 3 to 4 tbsp.

Corainder, finely chopped - to garnish

How to do:

1. Halve the boiled eggs and set aside.

2. Peel the tomato skin and roughly chop them.

3. Heat oil in a non-stick pan or kadai.

4. Fry the onions until they become soft and translucent. Now pick them with a fork and grind them along with the chopped tomatoes.

5. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan. Add cumin and when they start to sizzle, add the green chillies and ginger-garlic paste.

6. Stir well until the raw smell leaves. Now add the onion-tomato paste.

7. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes and then add the cumin powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. If required, sprinkle a little water to avoid the mixture getting burned.

8. When oil starts to separate out, add a cup of water. Mix well and now add the halved eggs.

9. Bring the gravy to a boil and remove from the flame.
10. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve warm with rice or rotis.