July 7, 2017
Monthly Mystery Munchies #27: Indian(Bengali)-style Spicy Eggs
This month’s theme came about from a craving in the form of Indian food. Though I do cook some sort of Indian-influenced dishes every now, what I make would be the usual Singapore-style cooking like my Chicken Curry and Potato Curry.
It’s hardly authentic Indian; more like comfort food I grew up with.
Here in the Netherlands and within the location we live in, I haven’t seen any Indian restaurants around. I have a feeling that the demand for for it is not as hot as it was back in Asia. Or in England for that matter.
As such, we don’t get to feast on proper Indian cuisines as often as well. The kind where it’s hot, spicy and full of strong flavours that makes the dish authentically Indian. The kind that makes you go weak in the knees. Bummer.
So every once in a while (thank heavens for every once in a while!), the craving comes creeping in. And when we want it, we want it all and we want.it.now.
Inspired by a Bengali dish I found on Pinterest only by looking at the pictures, I thought I’d give this Spicy Egg Curry a spin Grubbs ‘n Critters style without losing the originality of this made-at-home dish.
The thing with Indian dishes is that they usually are made with a variety of spices. There is no way around it and with my love for spices, that’s just the way I like it. Spices make your food so, so good.
This one comes with about 13 different spices, with a little bit more time needed to braise the sauce. While it sounds pretty daunting, it really is not as bad as it looks. And, as we always say with curries, “good curry, no hurry!”
- 8-10 hard boiled eggs, peeled
- 2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2.5 inches fresh ginger
- 2-3 fresh tomatoes, chopped
- 3-4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tspn cumin powder
- half tspn nutmeg powder
- 1 tbsp turmeric powder
- 2-3 tspn red chilli powder
- 1 tspn cumin seeds
- 4 cardamoms
- 2 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tspn black mustard seed
- 1 tbsp mustard sauce
- 4 tbsp chilli-olive oil
- 6 tbsp olive oil (for frying boiled eggs)
- 2 tbsp pepper
- half tspn sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- Heat oil in the pan. Add the black mustard seeds till they pop. Then stir in add mustard sauce. mix for about a minute then add the boiled eggs.
- Fry with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder till dark and golden. Strain and set aside
- In a deep pan, heat chilli oil and add the mustard sauce. Add all the whole spices. Once the spices start to give out fragrant, add the thinly sliced onion.
- Caramelise till they turn dark brown
- Add in ginger and garlic. Continue frying
- Add tomatoes, turmeric, chilli, sugar, bay leave. fry till oil separates
- Add cumin and nutmeg..Continue stirring
- Pour some water and braise for about 20 minutes then add about 1 cup and bring to boil.
- Cover and simmer over a small fire. Add coriander
- Add fried hard boiled eggs. Stir for about 2- minutes.
- Serve hot with rice.
- The original recipe used ginger-garlic paste usually bought ready-made available in supermarkets. I've substituted it with using fresh garlic and ginger due to my personal preference for fresh ingredients as the paste here are usually commercially made with preservatives.
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Monthly Mystery Munchies features every first Friday of the month in collaboration with Gen, Author of Eat, Play, Clove. Stay tuned with next month’s edition from the Grubbs ‘n Critters’ Kitchen!
Ann, I am SO glad you had your Indian food craving, because that’s basically my favourite cuisine, like, ever. Eggs – wow! Again you have made a dish that not only looks delicious but is impressively exotic, and I can only imagine the bursts of flavour with all of your spices. Girl, YES! You did good! Well done Xoxo
I think it is safe to say that I’d die without spices…life can be oh-so-bland! I love to pig out on Indian food sometimes and I do miss that! Imagine top that with briyani, butter chicken…aloo…hmmmmm 🙂
And thank YOU for indulging me, Gen! You know you are THE BEST sport. xooxoxoxo
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe, Ann. My family loves Indian food.
And thank you for stopping Robbie! Indian food is really one of the best there is! 🙂