Who doesn't enjoy a delicious lightly spiced flavorful coconut based egg curry? Egg is one quintessential breakfast food loaded with proteins- liked and consumed by all - good thing being a lot of vegetarians also consume it and are known as Eggetarians 😆 Eggs are the most nutritious food on the planet! There is no doubt about it! On top of everything else, they are also cheap, easy to prepare, go with almost any food and taste awesome.
Egg Curry from coastal southern regions of India is made using garam masala and coconut as its main ingredients. I have tried hard to get that exact taste like my mom's, but its tough 😊 I am close to it and have made my peace with it. ✊
I feel restless when I dont have eggs in my refrigerator. I have to stock it up as soon as I see around dozen left. Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, puffs, egg burji, omelettes, french toast, cakes etc- thats how Eggs are consumed in a healthy and regular basis in my household. It comes to my rescue when I am short on meat at home or for that matter even veggies. There used to be this famous jingle in India- Sunday ho Ya Monday Roz Kaho Ande 🥚 ... a good one indeed :)
Back home Eggs are treated like a second class citizen 😂. No kidding, when I am chatting with my Mom and if I ask her- "what did you cook for dinner?" There is a sigh in her tone when she says.. just made some egg curry- followed by WHY that decision was made ---like didn't have time to get chicken OR no good variety of fresh fish was available in the market OR due to bad weather she was not able to go get fresh veggies etc etc. So you see what I am saying- justification on why egg curry was made ... 😛
Where as for me here - Egg curry day is like a celebration :) My son is thrilled as he is an ardent and loyal fan of eggs. My husband is neutral - he doesn't enjoy coconut curries so much ...yeh go figure 🙄 ! and Me- full focus on getting the curry taste right just like my Mom's... so its a fun affair.
As a kid, my sister and Mom loved full boiled eggs in the curry whereas me and my Dad loved fresh broken eggs in the curry. Till this date that has not changed. Separate 2 broken eggs always go in my funky-licious Egg Curry/Anda Curry!
I do not know anyone around me that dislikes eggs. I have a cousin who couldn't eat it due to allergies and I used to feel so bad for her. While growing up my younger cousins gang loved my version of Plain Omelette. My mom and aunts used to make us omelette loaded with onion/tomatoes/veggies which most of them did not like it then 😁 The same ones that we relish like crazy on Cruises now- 😎
Anyways, Lets get started with the recipe:
Please feel free to modify ingredient quantity as per your taste for spiciness and thickness of curry!
Ingredients:
4 boiled eggs + 2 fresh eggs
3 tbsp oil
1 big onion finely chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 tsp each ginger and garlic paste
salt as per taste
Masala Paste:
5 cloves
1 cardamom
3-4 black pepper
1/2 inch cinnamon
1/4th tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4th tsp sesame seeds
1/4th tsp poppy seeds
3 tsp coriander seeds
7-8 red dry chillies [adjust as per your taste]
1/2 cup grated coconut + 3 tsp dry grated coconut
handful of cilantro leaves
1/4th tsp turmeric
Preparation:
Roast ingredients from 1-9 in a tsp of oil for few minutes till its fragrant and put it in a blender.
In the same pan roast coconut till it is slight brown in color on low heat and then add it to the blender. Add turmeric , cilantro and make a paste by adding water sparingly. Keep aside.
In a wide mouth utensil heat oil, add finely chopped onions and saute till light brown. Add ginger garlic paste and saute further till the raw smell goes away. Add tomatoes and cook till everything comes together.
Now pour the ground masala paste and mix everything nicely. Bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for few minutes. Adjust water and add salt.
Add the boiled eggs in the curry. You can lightly score the eggs from top to bottom with a knife or you can even lightly roast it in oil with garam masala powder [or chili pwd and turmeric pwd] before adding to the curry, or cut in halves and slide it in the curry- choice is yours!
Once the curry starts to simmer again - slowly break the remaining 2 fresh eggs and slide it in the curry. Leave it alone for 5-8 mins on low-med flame till the eggs are done. You can give it a light handed stir in between.
Enjoy it with rotis or just plain rice or jeera rice. It super yum!
njoY! happY cookinG!!
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Incredibly nutritious food! In fact, eggs are pretty much the perfect food. They contain a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. Whole eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet, containing a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. Omega-3 enriched and/or pastured eggs are even healthier. Eggs are high in cholesterol, but eating eggs does not adversely affect cholesterol in the blood for the majority of people. Eating eggs consistently leads to elevated levels of HDL (the "good") cholesterol, which is linked to a lower risk of many diseases. Eggs are among the best dietary sources of choline, a nutrient that is incredibly important but most people aren’t getting enough of.
Kabab or Kebab has a nice ring to it, it brings a smile on my face whenever someone utters that word. My mind starts getting images of get-togethers, fun with friends, with some beer or wine in the vicinity(yaasss), jamming sessions, or a fancy restaurant, sometimes dhaba style restaurants too :) etc. etc. So in short, this dish brings happiness to me. It is served as an appetizer mostly during parties and get together's!
Of course, one shouldn't stop at that, make it at home, in your kitchen whenever you feel like :)
I call it a 'Happy Side Dish'
It is a cloudy rainy day today in my town and I was craving for some chatpata (spicy peppery) snack. Had some minced chicken in the fridge, thought of making these chapli kebabs. Very easy to make, use the spices on hand, make patties and fry it in the oil!
Chapli kebab is a Pashtun-style minced kebab, usually made from ground beef or mutton with various spices in the shape of a patty. It originates from Peshawar in Northwest Pakistan and is also known as the Peshawari kebab.
The chapli kebab is a popular barbecue and street food in parts of Northern India, Pakistan, as well as in eastern Afghanistan. It can be served and eaten hot with naan bread, rice, or in burgers and sandwiches such as a Bun kebab or stuff in Pita Bread. Or just have as an appetizer with chutney dip, sliced onions and lemon wedges on the side.
Can't wait to dig in, every time I make something like this!
Here is the recipe for Chapli Kababs,
Ingredients:
1 16 0z minced chicken pkt (or get chicken thigh or breast and grind using the blender)
1 med size onion chopped finely
2 tomatoes chopped finely (squeeze the water out)- I used cherry tomatoes :)
2-3 green chilies chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2- 1tsp chili powder flakes (if you don't have, take dry red chili and crush it)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1 tbsp coriander seeds crushed in a mortar n pestle ( coarse coriander seeds pwd, a must step in chapli kababs)
1 cardamom crushed
2 cloves crushed
1 egg
2 tbsp whole wheat flour ( optional, if your mixture gets little soggy, add this)
Oil to fry
Deep fried chapli kababs
Shallow fried Chapli Kebab
Preparation:
Take a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except oil. Patties mixture should be dry enough.
Take a bowl of water at the side to dip your hands, while making patties.
Heat a pan with little oil in it. You can either deep fry it, which will taste awesome or shallow fry it(I like it this way)
Take a small portion of the meat mixture and make patties by flattening it, you can give any shape you want. Traditionally it is given an oval shape.
Place in on the hot pan, it should sizzle. Let it cook for 3 minutes. Then flip and again cook for another 3 minutes or till done. Cook on medium flame.
Strain it out and place on the paper towel to absorb extra oil.
Health Benefits:
Chicken is one of the best non-vegetarian sources of protein. It is lean meat, which means that it contains more amount of proteins and less amount of fat. Apart from protein, chicken is rich in several minerals like phosphorus and calcium, that helps keeps bones in mint condition. Also, it has selenium which has been known to cut a risk of arthritis.Chicken has two nutrients that are great for reducing stress – tryptophan and Vitamin B5. It boosts immunity (remember how we eat chicken noodle soup when we are sick?) and promotes good heart health as it is rich in vitamin B6, plays an important role in preventing a heart attack. so I say YAY to chicken!
Shepuchi bhaji is a well known Maharashtrian dish. Very popular food amongst villagers and farmers. It falls under the category of either you Love it or Hate it, more or less like Karela (bitter gourd). It has a cult followers of its own if you ask me heheh and I am one of them. I can polish off my plate when I get served these cult vegetable curries like karela, shepu(dill), bitter beans etc. My husband is just the opposite, he doesn't like it at all. One other reason I look forward to make it as I make it once in a while :)
It is used as a herb in western countries. Dill has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for hundreds of years.Apart from giving a strong, tangy, appetizing flavor and taste, it possesses plenty of medicinal properties. It is very good for health and has a pretty green color on it. Used these days for garnish, flavoring and for styling food plates to present on Internet handles, it is has multipurpose value- so Dill ain't going anywhere soon :)
I have enjoyed it so much while growing up- eating it with jowar bhakri or rice bhakri elevates its taste 10 folds more. I sill get all nostalgic when I visit my hometown in Belgaum and step into our family friends home, that aroma always lingers in their house. Have you ever experienced that? Every house has its own typical aroma and energy around it.
Anyways coming back to Shepu- my moms fav dish is shepu Idlis...well that is one thing which I am not a great fan of maybe because we add loads of jaggery in it... my tastebuds go crazy where ever it finds spice. Even now when I visit home there is a list of things that I want from my moms kitchen and Shepuchi, methichi bhajis are one of them. I am actually drooling as I am writing this as its dinner time and I cant wait to get my hands on it :)
Lets check the simple recipe:
Ingredients:
2 bunch of Dill leaves (about 21/2 cups of chopped dill)
4-5 garlic pods chopped (large in size)
3 green chillies slit
1 onion med size chopped
1/4th cup toor dal soaked for 30 mins (or split yellow moong dal)
1 tbsp grated coconut for garnish
1/4th tsp jaggery
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste
Preparation:
Clean and wash Dill leaves for a couple of times. It is usually muddy by the roots, so clean it nicely.
Chop the leaves and keep aside.
Soak the toor dal in little water for about 30 minutes and drain the water.
Heat oil in a pan, then add garlic, saute for a few seconds. Add onions and chillies, saute and let it cook till onions are translucent.
Add toor dal and mix it well, add 2 tbsp water and cook it covered for 5-6 minutes.
Now add the dill leaves, salt, jaggery and mix everything nicely. Close the lid and let it cook for another 5-6 minutes. Do not add water. It gets cooked in the steam that gets generated. If need be then add very little water.
Garnish with grated coconut and serve hot with roti, yogurt, rice etc
Njoy cooKing!
Health Benefits:
Dill is packed with micronutrients that provide health benefits. It is a good vitamin A intake that helps you to maintain healthy vision, skin, immune function, growth, and reproductive health. You'll also get a significant boost of vitamin C, an important antioxidant that helps your body to resist infection. Dill is also a good source of fiber, folate (important for cell division and production of DNA), calcium for healthy bones, riboflavin for cell function and development, manganese, and iron.
Dill has been used for centuries in traditional Asian and Ayurvedic medicine. Currently, people use dill for certain medicinal purposes, including: Gastrointestinal disorders Loss of appetite, Kidney disease, Flatulence, Fever and colds, Cough, Bronchitis, Urinary tract disorders, Hemorrhoids, Insomnia and other sleep disorders.
Getting back to blogging after a short break, feels so good to be back in my comfort zone :)
It was Monday, Presidents day a long weekend in USA. Had a busy rest of the weekend having too much fun! Thought of lazying around while cleaning up the house and at sharp 11:08am had a craving to eat pav bhaji after my eyes wandered on the potato bag in the pantry :) Got lucky as I had all the ingredients in the fridge except pav (Indian bread). After begging for 5 minutes to my Pati-dev who thinks weekends are his right to be a couch potato, sent him off to the store to get the pav while I geared myself to make some YUMM-O street food.
This dish is a big hit at my house and relished amongst my friends. I got this recipe from a Juhu beach vendor in Mumbai on Youtube some years back. Can't go wrong, right? I have customized the recipe just a little bit as per my convenience. I was actually surprised to see couple of ingredients that went into it like kasoori methi and hing. Well, it only adds more great flavors to say the least.
Another huge USP of this dish, can add as many variety of vegetables you want and kids will not even know :) because potatoes overpowers the rest of the clan :)- So yes, Moms can go YAY!!
Pav Bhaji was invented as a midnight dish by street food vendors, made with all the leftover vegetables from the day, mashed up together, with loads of added spice, and butter. Bhaji is the Marathi word for a vegetable dish, and pav probably comes from the Portuguese word for bread.
All I can say is try it and see if you like it.
Ingredients: For the Bhaji:
2 big potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed lightly
4-5 ripe tomatoes chopped ( if not sour enough, add extra tbsp of tomato paste)
1 capsicum chopped
10 flowerets of cauliflower (roughly chopped)
1 small carrot chopped (optional)
1/2 cup peas boiled
1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp Kashmiri chili pwd (to give more color than spiciness)
2 tbsp butter
1/4th tsp turmeric pwd
1- 2 tbsp pav bhaji masala (everest or mtr)
handful chopped cilantro leaves
1 tbsp fenugreek leaves
pinch asafetida
2 tbsp of oil
food color orange 1 pinch ( if you want that gorgeous color :))
To Fry the Pav:
Butter
Cilantro leaves
Prepared Pav Bhaji
Garnish Ingredients:
Chopped onion
Sev
Lemon pieces
Dallop of butter on it
6 Pav (store bought for now) Minimum 2 Pav each person to relish all that goodness of buttery bhaji :)
Preparation:
In a non stick pan, heat oil, add capsicum, cauliflower, (carrots if using it) and quickly saute it for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add ginger garlic paste and let it cook for little bit more till the raw smell goes away. Add asafetida, kasoori methi and cook for a minute.
Now add chopped tomatoes and saute it for couple of minutes. You can add 1 tbsp butter now and let it cook till you see some oil coming out from the corners. Stir in between.
Add masalas - turmeric pwd, chilli pwd and pav bhaji masala, salt mix everything together quickly.
Add boiled potatoes and with a masher, start mashing everything together. Add water little by little till you get the consistency of thickness/thinness you want. It is always semi thick. Potatoes basically absorb water.
Taste it and see if it needs adjustment, if your tomatoes are not sour enough, add lemon juice.
Add food color if you want.
Let it cook on sim flame for about 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring in between and add water as you like. Add another tbsp of butter :)
Garnish it with Cilantro and switch off the gas.
How to fry the Pav just before serving:
Cut the Pav in the centre and semi open it.
On a frying pan, add butter, as it sizzles add bhaji, cilantro and place the pav face down and cook for few sec. Drizzle some butter or oil on top and serve hot.
How to Serve Pav Bhaji:
Serve good amount of bhaji in a compartmented plate, chopped onion, cilantro and lemon slices on one end, you can add onions, sev and butter on top of the hot bhaji, and masala fresh pav on the other side.
Trust me, eating is much easier than writing how to serve Pav Bhaji :):) (joke)
Due to the increased interest in foods that are low-carb or low-glycemic index, the potato has unjustly earned a bad reputation. Potatoes consumed in simple roasted, grilled, boiled, steamed manner with little or no oil/butter is very healthy and nutritious for health.
It is loaded with calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, iron that helps in having strong bones.
It has vitamin B6 which supports heart health.
Choline is a very important and versatile nutrient in potatoes that helps with sleep, muscle movement, learning and memory.
There are various versions of stuffed brinjal recipes. This is one of the easiest and yummiest recipe you can find anywhere which is based out of Maharashtra. I grew up eating stuffed brinjal cooked in coconut base curry, but that recipe some other time. I simply love this sabjiyon ka raja (king of vegetables) Baingan/Brinjal/Eggplant in any form, be it fried, baked, fire roasted, grilled, in lasagna, rice or in curry. This spicy preparation will send you drooling, guaranteed!
Ingredients:
8 medium sized brinjals
1 big onion chopped
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 pod garlic chopped (optional)
1 inch ginger chopped (optional)
1/2 cup peanuts roasted and powdered
1/2 tsp jaggery (or brown sugar)
salt as per taste
1/2 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp mustard seeds
10 curry leaves (optional)
2-3 tbsp oil
cilantro for garnish
2 cups water (or more)
Preparation:
Slit the brinjals in 4 parts keeping the stalk intact. Soak it in salt and tamarind water for 30 minutes.
In the meantime make a mixture of chopped onions, peanut powder, chilly powder, garam masala, ginger garlic, salt.
Drain the water from brinjals and stuff it with this onion mixture. Keep the remaining onion mixture aside.
In a wide non-stick pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, once it splutters add curry leaves and the remaining onion mixture and saute it for few minutes.
Now slowly add the stuffed brinjal and let it slightly roast on all sides, for a couple of minutes on each side.
Now add 1 cup water and close the lid, let it cook for 8-10 minutes on low-med heat. Add jaggery and tamarind pulp. Now very gently turn brinjals over and let it cook till done. Last few minutes cook uncovered. Curry thickens, adjust water and spices accordingly. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with bhakri, roti or paratha. It's finger licking good!
njoY!! happY cookinG!! Health Benefits: King of vegetables, better provide some royal benefits :) It helps in iron production in our body, keeps chronic diseases at bay, helps quit smoking(who knew?), has good amount of vitamin C and is effective as antiviral and antibacterial source, helps to have healthy strong hair, keeps the skin soft and supple, prevents skin cancer etc. Research on eggplant has focused on an anthocyanin phytonutrient found in eggplant skin called nasunin. Nasunin is a potent antioxidant that has been shown to protect cell membranes from damage.
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