If I told you that I whip up amazingly gourmet meals at the drop of a hat for my everyday dinners, that I’d have to be lying. Truth be told, I seldom ever cook something that would have me whisking away for hours on end. Except of course, when I have company coming! Now that’s a whole different story altogether. Even then, I’m not spending all those hours on one single dish, but instead, I’m actually going nuts fussing over a minimum of five main courses.
Yes, I get like that while entertaining. But the diligent licking of everyone’s fingertips and perplexed weight-watching souls worrying over whether to go in for seconds (thirds, actually) more than makes up for all the effort.
When it comes to feeding family, I like to go more easy on myself. It’s not that I don’t enjoy feeding loved ones with rich palate pleasing favourites, but I’d rather spend my time with them enjoying simple, yet equally delightful food made in minutes. A recent email from one of my readers posed a question I have been subjected to many a times. This compelled me to come all out talk about my regular at-home meals. She writes,
All your recipes appear as if they leaped out of glossy magazines. While many them are quite easy to follow, it’s hard to imagine myself cooking lavish meals every night. Do you really cook all these wonderful looking food on a daily basis?
Well, dear reader, all I can say is yes. Well almost. You see, most of my recipes, no matter how elegantly sounding, are actually very simple and wholesome; and ones that I turn to on a weekly basis. While it may seem daunting to someone not so in tune with Indian cuisine, it’s not at all that hard. Most dishes can be made in a matter of minutes, whereas others, that seem to call for bucketfuls of spices, may just take a tad bit more time. But yes, sometimes even an adventurous cook like myself, wants to take a break and reach out to the nearest pack of instant noodles. And it’s often in times like these that I faithfully turn to my repertoire of quick fixes. And these, I assure you dear reader, can be whipped up real quick. Literally in minutes!
EGG MASALA
Prep time: 10 min | Cooking time: 10 min | Serves: 2
2 large
1 medium
1 medium-sized
1-2
1 tsp
1/2 tsp
1/4 tsp
1/4 tsp
1/4 tsp
2 tbspeggs, hardboiled
onion, finely sliced
tomato, roughly chopped
green chillies, chopped
ginger-garlic paste
mustard seeds
red chilli powder
turmeric powder
coriander powder
light cooking oil
salt, to tasteHEAT oil and saute mustard seeds till it starts to pop. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a few seconds before adding onions. Cook till onions turn tender and pink.
ADD red chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder, and fry for a few seconds before adding tomatoes. Season with salt, and add water if necessary. Add boiled eggs, sliced in half, and let cook for another two minutes till eggs evenly coat with the gravy.
SERVE warm with rice or rotis.
Hey!
At what point do we add the green chilies?
I wanted to let you know that I keep trying recipes from many different sources but the only ones to which my husband smacks his lips and says, “Too good!” are yours! Thanks for spreading the joy 🙂
Hi Meena,
I have been reading your blog for quite sometime and I’m a fan! have prepared quite a few dishes from your site and they have always turned out nice and received compliments from my husband and guests. The beauty of your recipes are they are simple, easy to prepare, dont take hours and the spices are just right – not too overpowering, but enough to add flavor! And yeah..the end result is always great! So just want to say Thank You! Keep doing what your are doing..coz u happen to be rather awesome at it! 🙂
Meena, I made your egg curry the other day ‘coz I was strapped for time and had a whining husband breathing down my neck! Worked out well; we both rather liked it more when we mashed the egg up and mixed it with the masala. I had even thrown in some red+green capsicums. Will be keeping this recipe, so loads of thks – was great the next morning for breakfast, all mashed up, and spread on toast!
Tried out the egg curry last night. and it did turn out quite well…very simple recipie, and doesn’t take too much time to prepare, and cook. you have a great site going here, keep it up. hope you add more recipies on the site (which looks great by the way)…
YUM!!! Will definitely give this a try.
simple spices, simple ingredients, but totally wholesome and flavorful, yayy !! yee haa, eggs and veges, yummys ! 🙂 Thx for sharing 🙂
Love the look of your site!! That egg masala looks so delicious!
I must just be lazy – I try and pick the easy dishes all the time (and then try to call it my “minimalistic style” 😉
Yup – made this las night, and it was fabulous! The only adaptation I made was to add tomato sauce since hubby likes his curries on the “saucy” side (all the better to pick up with naan!). Thanks so much Meena, for everything on this blog – you make my meal ideas so much easier!
I’m glad you both enjoyed this recipe, Christine! Another way of making a richer gravy would be to just add a bit of tomato paste and cook for a few minutes more till the tomatoes pulp well and thicken.
I prepared this and everybody just loves this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Having had some training at home and some from regional chefs to cook Indian food (or at least to dabble with one or two of the subcontinent’s many distinct cuisines), I think I understand why you received the reader’s comment above. Once you learn the basic principles, as with Chinese, Japanese and European cuisines, you know exactly where to start and it’s not hard. But if you’ve never cooked anything like that, it looks incredibly difficult. You and I don’t have to think twice about relative amounts of dhania and haldi – it comes automatically – but imagine being faced with them for the first time!
I looooove eggs…I just made some myself, an omelette. Your masala eggs look killer. 🙂
Meena, the egg curry looks wonderful! And yes, the pic seems to leap from printed page. Thanks for sharing this easy recipe 🙂
Yes, simple and wholesome indeed. Looks like I can try this soon, as I just got my turmeric powder and coriander seeds recently. I just have to grind those seeds to powder, I suppose. 😀
My own hubby dear has been telling me about egg curry for a while now, and he keeps promising to get me the recipe from his mom. I don’t think he will need to now, as yours looks amazing! Thanks Meena!!
Oh my! That looks D-I-V-I-N-E ! Great presentation, Meena.
Cheers,
Mythili