Egg curry in coconut milk

I don't make egg curries very often. We like our eggs fried, in omelets or scrambled. But when your in a rush and have no time for an elaborate meal, this curry comes to your rescue. I got this recipe from my friend Allie, who makes this egg curry quite often. Her recipe calls for only four ingredients- garlic, East Indian bottle masala, coconut milk and boiled eggs. I know many may wonder, how can it be so easy or will it taste good enough. But I can assure you, having eaten this curry at her home a couple of times, it is delicious, specially when paired with hot steamed white or brown rice.

I make this curry a little differently. I add a few ingredients to make it more suitable to our palates at home. The original curry tastes coconuty and creamy, and has delicate flavor of spices. My variation makes it a little more spicy with the addition of green chillies and ginger and has onions and tomatoes. It is still one of the easiest things to make when in a rush or if you like eggs in a curry !

Recipe credit: Allison D'souza

Ingredients:

1. Boiled eggs - 8 nos
2. Onion - 1 large, finely chopped
3. Tomato - 1 large, finely chopped
4. Green chilly - 4 nos, finely chopped
5. Garlic - 8 falkes, minced
6. Ginger - 1 inch piece, minced
7. East Indian bottle masala - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
8. Salt - to taste
9. Oil - as needed

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add onion and garlic, fry till brown. Then add ginger and green chillies and continue sautéing for a minute.
2. Add the tomatoes and salt and continue sautéing till they turn mushy. 
3. Once the tomatoes look done, add the bottle masala. Mix it and slowly add the coconut milk.
4. When the curry comes to a boil add the boiled eggs. After about three minutes switch off the flame. 

How to boil eggs:

1. Fill a pan or pot with enough water to cover the eggs. Gently ease the eggs into the pan.
2. Add a 1 tbsp salt and 2 tbsp vinegar to the water
3. Put the pan on the stove and let the water come to a boil. Lower the flame and let the eggs cook for five minutes.
4. After five minutes switch off the flame and let the eggs rest in the hot water for 12 minutes.
5. Wait for the eggs to cool down completely before cracking the shells. You may put the eggs in cold water, to fasten the process.
6. If the eggs are still hot or warm and you try to crack the shell open, they tend to break and you have egg white coming off with the shell. So be patient and gentle.

Beef mince in vindaloo sauce

Ground meat is extremely versatile. You can cook them in different sauces, make pies, cutlets, meat balls and the possibilities are endless. Minced meat with pau (bread) or pulao is much looked forward to meal at home. We used to eat a lot of ground beef, however, we have started cutting down on our red meat consumption in the recent past. Since we bought ground beef after a long time, I didn't want to cook it in my regular style. After skimming through many sites, I found today's recipe on a facebook page dedicated to East Indian recipes. I love this FB page as it has some awesome collection of authentic East Indian fare.

The original recipe calls for more spices, and onions. I have made quite a few changes to the original recipe by adding and subtracting ingredients and introducing new ones too. I guess, that's a trick any cook worth their salt learns over time. The dish looks deliciously red, and goes well with pau or bread rolls.

Ingredients:

1. Beef mince (ground beef) - 1/2 kg
2. Onions - 1/2 kg
3. Oil - as required
4. Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp
5. Potatoes - 2 nos (optional)

Vindaloo masala: * See notes

1. Kashmiri chilly - 8 nos
2. Cumin (jeera) - 1 tsp
3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Garlic - 10 flakes
5. Ginger - 1 inch piece
6. Vinegar - 2 - 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Chop onions. Wash and drain the mince to remove excess water. Cut potatoes in two inch cubes.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the onions and fry well. When the onions have started turning light brown add the vindaloo masala. Fry the masala well by stirring constantly for about a minute or two.
3. Add the minced meat, and potatoes, mix the contents of the pan well. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan.
4. Let it cook on slow flame till done. This should take about 20 minutes. Stir in the tomato ketchup a minute before you take the dish off the stove.

Notes:

1. You may use any ground meat, including mutton, chicken or pork. In case your using chicken mince I recommend using fewer chillies, and garlic flakes. Chicken meat is more delicate than red meat and hence should not be cooked with the same quantities of spices as used for red meat.
2. Vindaloo masala is required to be ground in vinegar. I recommend dry grinding the red chilly, turmeric and cumin first.  Then adding garlic and ginger with vinegar. This will ensure that you don't end up using too much vinegar for grinding.  Please use your discretion in using vinegar, as too much will wreck the dish. Adding a little water while grinding the masala is ok.
3. Adding water is optional, specially if you are not adding potatoes to the dish.