DF14: Egg Curry and Fancy Brown Rice blend

I have a passion for Indian food, one that is not quite shared by the others in my household. Faced with some eggs that needed to be used up, a hankering for Indian flavors, and a pantry already containing most of what I needed, the egg curry seemed like a good choice. DS has had the dish before and liked it; it was new to DC, however.

I have already mentioned that DC suffers from "Missing Porkchop Syndrome:" when he thinks of a vegetarian meal, he pictures a big plate full of food, with a large empty spot where the porkchop should be. So I wasn't really sure if he would enjoy this meal... particularly since I was planning to serve a fancy brown rice blend along with the curry. I picked it up at WF recently. It's one of those fancy Lundberg rice blends, this one containing long grain brown rice, Weihani (a red rice, I believe) and black Japonica rice.



Since the rice needed about an hour to cook, I started it first. I thought about using the pressure cooker, but didn't feel like trying to figure out the timing. I followed the package directions, adding butter and salt to the rice and water. Within about 15 minutes after the rice started simmering, DS and DC both were asking what smelled so good!

The egg curry is a snap to make if you have already hard-cooked and peeled the eggs ahead of time. This recipe is from Cuisines of India: The Art and Tradition of Regional Indian Cooking by Smita Chandra and Sanjeev Chandra.

Ande Ki Kari
(Egg Curry from Punjab)

Ingredients:
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 t. cumin seeds
1 1/2 c. c. finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
Salt to taste
1/2 t. turmeric
3/4 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. garam masala
1/4 to 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 c. water
8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 T chopped fresh cilantro leaves
(2 T heavy cream)

1. Warm the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds and after a few seconds, the chopped onions and garlic. Saute, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, mashing them into the sauce with the back of your spoon. When the oil appears around the edges, add salt and all the spices. \


Cook for 1 minute, then add the water and the whole eggs.

2. Cover and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 30 minutes.

Turn off the heat and mix in the lemon juice and fresh cilantro.

Let the curry cool for a few minutes before mixing in the cream. Just before serving, lift the eggs out of the sauce and transfer to a serving bowl. Halve them and pour the sauce over.


Serves 3-4 with other dishes.

I served this unusual dish with the brown rice blend and some mushrooms and baby sweet peas.
Instead of adding heavy cream to the sauce, I added some butter, which gave a nice richness to the sauce.

Here is the cooked rice:

Unfortunately, it has a bit of a grayish tinge to it because of the black Japonica rice, but it was really delicious!

DC's plate:


Everyone really enjoyed the rice. I loved the curry... DC and DS, not so much. But they ate it! DC even pretended to enjoy it. I think he's a keeper.