Sri Lankan egg curry

How are you all doing??? Embracing the last few days of summer? Well, I am and I think I'm now ready to let go and welcome gloomy, chilly days and sweaters and pull overs. Last week was depressing with rains and winds and gloomy weather and I almost got out my night socks. Good thing I didn't because for the last 4 days we have been having brilliant weather, warm and sunny and still summer like.

Since I am still getting into the groove of cooking and stuff, it is an effort to make dinner. I am still exhausting stuff from my freezer and realised if I didn't start cooking soon I'd just get used to it and even worse ignore my blog and photography and such. So last week when we were a bit under the weather (literally) I brought out this new cook book called Serendip by Peter Kuruvita which has an array of Sri Lankan recipes and some gorgeous gorgeous photographs.

This is my current fav book and I have already tried out a couple of recipes which have all been fruitful. Usually my first trial at new recipes are always a failure and it very rarely tempts me to make them again, but this one somehow has managed to hit the spot and I have so so so many awesome recipes to try from the book. The book costs quite a bit and if I didn't use it as much as I promised Ro, I am never gonna hear the end of it. So for the past couple of days anything on the dinner table is Sri Lankan in nature. (I plan on doing it till Ro tells me, enough with it already!!!)

 

Truth be told, the picture of this egg curry tempted me more than the recipe. The fact that I'm impulsive doesn't really work always. I had already put the eggs to boil and then decided to go through the recipe which is when I realised it had 3 ingredients I hadn't even heard of and wondered, what now??? I still decided to go ahead with the recipe, omitting the two and it still was a welcome change to the usual Kerala egg curry. Very few ingredients are used and seriously, how can anything with coconut milk ever taste bad??? 

I had picked up some frozen idiyappams from the Indian store a while back and served it along with the curry. It was a brilliant combo and I'm kicking myself for not picking up a few more packs. Ro was quite thrilled to see them and asked where I got it from to which I pretended to be insulted and said what do you mean, I slogged it out in the kitchen and made them from scratch. How did you do the strings without the press was his next question. I avoided it saying there was a technique I'd learnt on youtube which I shall explain later and he bought that. And then just when we were about to eat I opened my big mouth and said, 'hey just check if the idiyappams have been cooked through, it was frozen.' Ro who usually doesn't listen to crap I say, picked this one up immediately. I will be teased about it for quite a while. Dammit!! :)

Recipe adapted from Serendip: My Sri Lankan Kitchen by Peter Kuruvita

 

Eggs- 4, plunged into boiling water for 5 minutes and then refreshed in cold water.

Oil- 1 tbsp + enough to shallow fry the eggs

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon stick- 1 inch piece

Onion- 1 medium, thinly sliced

Green chillies- 2 small, slit lengthwise

Curry leaves- a sprig

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Maldive fish flakes - 1/2 tbsp

Pandanus leaf- 1 inch piece

Dill seeds- 1/4 tsp

Coconut milk- 1 cup

Salt- to taste

 

Peel the cooked eggs, prick them all over with a fork and lightly salt them.

Heat enough oil in a pan and fry the eggs until golden, flipping sides as and when required. Drain on paper towels and keep ready.

Into a wok, tip in all the other ingredients and simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes or till the onions have become soft and the sauce has slightly thickened.

Add the eggs and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.

Season with enough salt, give a final stir and take it off the fire.

Serve with appam, idiyappam, roti or even bread.

 

Notes: I didn't have the fish flakes, pandanus leaf and the dill seeds which I presume were the main ingredients that gave the curry its distinct taste.

I also sautéed the onions with cumin, cinnamon, chillies and the powders till the onions grew soft and then added the coconut milk and let it simmer for about 5 to 6 minutes.

Although I'd pricked the eggs with a fork, I found that the masalas hadn't caught on to it. So next time I would halve the egg and throw it into the curry.

The base curry is perfect for a fish molee and even vegetable curries.