Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Muttai kuzhambu (poached)

Muttai kulambu is again a simple curry prepared in Indian households.
(Muttai means Egg and Kuzhambu or kulambu means gravy).

A touching novel (I can't remember the title) explains like this while describing a lower middle class Indian family...In India Sundays are the family days and we can smell great flavors in air through almost all the chimneys in the street. A poor mother in that novel tries to make something special for their Sunday lunch and finally fixed a tasty meal within their budget. She tells like this....'Dry fish curry can be equated to the real fish curry and muttai kuzhambu for chicken curry' what a lovely thought ..right! Happiness is purely a choice and we get what we choose !!!! Some stories like this leave a permanent mark in our hearts .....

Muttai kuzhambu is always my first choice whenever I run out of ideas or time or chicken:)

Egg curry can be prepared in numerous ways. I know many who prefer hard boiled egg curry along with biryani. That would be very attractive and easy to serve as well. I will post mine soon.

But here is another method called the Poached egg curry or 'udachi oothina muttai kulambu' (Tamil).The raw eggs are simply poured into the boiling curry and cooked in that flavorful masala . This will arouse more flavor because of the great combination of egg and masala.

This is my mom's favorite version.



Ingredients:
Egg - 3
Onion - 1
tomato - 2
oil - 2 tbsp
fennel (sombu) - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
Turmeric - a pinch

To fry and grind:
channa dhal - 1 tbsp
coriander seed - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
cashews - 5 (optional)
dry red chilly - 6
black pepper - 10 numbers
cinnamon - 1 inch
cloves (kirambu) - 4
cardamom - 2
fennel seed (sombu) - 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 1/4 cup

To grind:

cilantro - 3 stems
mint leaf - a handful
ginger - 1 inch
garlic - 3 pearls


Method:
Slice the onion into small pieces. Chop the tomato finely keep aside.

Grind the ginger, garlic , cilantro and mint together.

Heat a tsp oil in a wok and fry all the items given above except coconut.
Grind them to a fine paste.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and add the fennel seed.
Now goes the chopped onion. Fry till it becomes tender.

Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell vanishes.
Then add the chopped tomato and fry till oil oozes out.

Grind the items given and add it to the fried items in wok.
Add salt and let it boil for five minutes.

Then reduce flame. Carefully break and pour the eggs one by one without overlapping one another into the hot curry.
The eggs should not touch one another. Do not stir after this stage , till eggs are cooked.

Now close the vessel and reduce flame to minimum.

Let it remain there for 10 minutes. Switch off after the egg gets completely cooked.

Muttai kuzhambu is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve with rice / roti.
Today I prepared cabbage peas poriyal as side dish along with hot rice to go with this spicy egg curry.

Note:
we can add hard boiled eggs or omelet also instead of poaching.

31 comments:

Sailaja Damodaran said...

I love the ground masala....tasty

Soma Pradhan said...

Very very nice write up. Heart touching

Saraswathy Balakrishnan said...

looks very spicy and delicious:)

Siddhi Shirsat said...

Hey viki this egg curry luks spicy n tasty...i prefer poached egg curry more over hard boiled one.This curry is perfect to have with rice in this cold season

suvaiyaana suvai said...

looks yummy!

Manju said...

i would love to try this once. Never actually thought of making egg curry with anything other than hard boiled eggs!!

San!!! said...

An apt curry for the winter,anything outta egg is an easy upload with a smile :P ,would like to taste that tum curry.

Priya Suresh said...

Wow viki this kuzhambu sounds really yummy..lovely..

Namitha said...

Looks very spicy and yummm...never made egg curry like this before :-)

Sumi said...

Good one...Its another completly different version for me, as I generally make this type of poached curry, using kara kulambhu.
Will try this one soon.

Sarah Naveen said...

Thats a quick fix..my mom makes it often..
Looks so yummy ...

Unknown said...

Amma makes this too. Looks delicious..

Gita Jaishankar said...

Same pinch dear :)...I love this kuzumbu...goes well with everything...nice click too :)

Sunitha said...

Lovely.. so now I know an Indian dish with paoched eggs.. wonderful!

Sushma Mallya said...

looks spicy and very delicious

my kitchen said...

Loves to eat with hot rice & Dosa

Tina said...

Looks spicy and yummy Good with rice or chapathi..

Jaleela Kamal said...

viki summa vaasam ingku varai adikkuthu, athuvum araiththu uuRRi seythaal keedkavaa veeNdum, kaNdippaa oru naaL seythu paarkkikiReen,

prasu said...

new look of ur blog is great dear.....spicy and delicious dear.

Malar Gandhi said...

Looks spicy and nice for the weather.:)

Anu said...

Wow looks very spicy and delicious.. Nice template I like it so much..

gtyuk said...

that's a moving story of the poor mother; but actually, that is what I do too, sometimes when I don't have any meat or fish in stock, I tend to replace them by eggs too!! and this curry odachi oothana mutta kozhambu, we do it too, very delicious right? and I prefer this more than the boiled egg version but all of them at home don't like it; this version is also rich in spices and herbs compared to what I do usually, very nice recipe!!! enjoy your week end!!!

Vikis Kitchen said...

Thank you friends!
Sumi, Superchef: Just try this version dear. U'r gonna love this.
Anu:Thanks for liking my template dear. I too love floral background very much.
Vino: Thanks dear. I prefer this muttai kulambu over many non veg dishes:) Hubby likes the hard boiled egg curry more. I make it for parties only, as they are easy to serve. But this poached egg version will be great for a small family, as we can't pour many eggs in this kulambu. The beauty lies in the un-collapsed eggs.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

Lavanya Siva said...

wow, pefect dish for this winter. Look you blogs new look.

sangeeta said...

that looks like a yummy spicy curry..
loved the changed look of your blog Viki..

Nandinis food said...

*drools* Aah! What spicy muttai kuzhambu! The yolk must be giving an extra flavor! Yummmmm!

Rina said...

After marrying a Tamilian, I too make Muttai Kuzhambu with poached eggs dear..sometimes add dry fish to it too..tastes gr8..

Anupama said...

You are absolutely correct... Sundays used to be "specialty meal" days in my house too... they need not be something expensive to get and cook, but even a simple dish can be a specialty item... I have never tried anything with poached eggs and must say that your version sounds very tempting :-)

Vikis Kitchen said...

Muttaikulambu measurement by weight:
For adding 3 eggs, we may need 50 gm of onion and 100 gm of tomato.

Unknown said...

We tried your recipe. It turned out very well and delicious.

Vikis Kitchen said...

Thank you friends.
Thanks Monica.

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