Egg kuruma

Whenever we say egg curry, the only thing that comes into the mind of many people is a spicy red hot egg curry. But there are many versions all over India. Sometimes we may need an egg curry with more gravy to go along with rice or idiappam (rice noodles). Then I would choose this curry or kuruma with lots of coconut masala. This kind of  egg curry with more gravy is a common in Southern Tamilnadu and kerala. On that day I made this with veggie briyani for one of my friends who likes egg curry very much and insisted on making my hometown version. Though I like her version also very much, I made it for her and we all had an amazing dinner.

 Egg kuruma.

Ingredients:

Egg - 6

Ingredients:

tomato - 2
Red onion - 1
coriander leaves - a handful.
mint leaves - few
curry leaves - few
coconut milk - 1/2 cup
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
curry masala powder- 1 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
salt - to taste
oil / ghee - 2 tbsp
cinnamon - 2 inch
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
bay leaf - 1
ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

to grind:

cardamom - 3
shredded coconut - 1/4 cup
cashew - 4
poppy seed - 1 tsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
green chillies - 4

Method:

*Grind ginger and garlic together.
*Dry roast the poppy seeds, cashew and grind the items mentioned to a fine paste.
* Hard boil the eggs , peel. Make 3-4 slits lengthwise on all the eggs.
Keep aside.
* Heat oil / ghee in a pan. Add fennel seeds, cinnamon and bay leaf.
*Add the chopped onion, green chillies ,curry leaves, cilantro and mint leaves. After the onion turns golden brown , add ginger garlic paste and saute well.Then add the chopped tomato and fry till it is completely cooked.
* Put  chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder , curry masala powder and stir well till raw smell goes. Add 2 cups of water. Close the lid and cook for 5 minutes.
* Add the coconut masala and let it boil to give a nice flavor.
* Put the prepared eggs. Bring to a boil.
*Before switching off add the coconut milk. Switch off immediately.
Egg kuruma is ready!

Serving suggestions:

This is one best side dish for vegetable briyani,  parathas, parotta, any briyani, dosai,  idly, appam and idiyappam.

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.