"Spicy Methi~Beet~Egg Curry" ... Accidental Curry in my kitchen ... A delicious egg curry with the inclusion of fresh methi leaves and beetroot that I tried just like that which surprisingly turned out fantastic ... Goes very well with Naan / Tandoori Roti ... Yummilicious .....
** Eggs are the best thing to have happened to mankind for sure. They are fully loaded with nutrients, proteins, minerals and everything that one needs to have in a day. The only hitch is the yolk part contains higher value of cholesterol so it has to be consumed within limits. But for hard labor workers I am sure they can easily have about 4-5 eggs a week, while we office goers have to stick to about 3-4 eggs a week. Well, come what may; I love eggs as they are very user friendly and I have so many more ideas that are cropping in my mind that I am eager to try out. My family consist of only the two of us, hubby and me, so the cooking requirement is comparatively less and I do not like to waste food. Moreover, having weak back I need to be careful as I have no helping hand except for mopping work, rest of the work is handled by me single handed in my home. Off course I get a lot of help from hubby on outside purchases, marketing for kitchen requirements etc. and that is a huge bonus for me as I can happily concentrate on other things that I have always yearned to do.
** Crossing fifty years, I have experienced a lot of things in life both good and bad. Life is never easy and if there is one thing that I have learnt, it is that, a person should always devote a little bit time to oneself and pursue what they love to do in life before it is too late. Time moves fast, time lost is time wasted and it should never be so that when we reach our ripe age we regret not having lived a little bit for ourselves too. As we age we may come realize to our dismay that we are neither able to do what we have always wanted to do nor is there any interest to do the same any more. As for me I have now reached a point where, I am happy attending my office, home, blog, designing clothes, which I recently started back on for me only and my most passionate of all, yes reading. As we age, we should do so gracefully and try to include those things that makes us happy instead of always running behind others trying to make them happy, you see you never can. There is no point in doing something for those who do not value it and always demand for more. I am pursuing now what I like to do and enjoy the same very much.
** Cooking has always been a passion with me and I always love to try out new recipes be it my own concoction or of that I pick up from others. At times, I do things just out of the blue without realizing that I have cooked something new and delicious. These are what we call accidental discoveries that happen when you learn to be creative be it in any field. I have always loved a few dishes that taste simply awesome in one of my favorite restaurants and always wonder how they have prepared it. Trust me, no Chef, tells you the exact recipe how much ever you try to cajole him into telling you, it is always his trade secret and I sure respect that though I am inquisitive. My experiments / trials in kitchen are always to try to find out how it might have been done and today's egg curry was a big accidental surprise to me. I have reached closer to my favorite dish, a few more tries and I am sure to inch closer to the original. But this one has also won my heart and of my hubby’s too, he was so thrilled to relish this and insisted I try out preparing tandoori roti too, which is another dream of mine to achieve. Appreciation sure motivates one is what I all have to say here, so always give in your best, who knows you may hit bulls-eye.
** Here is my simple method of preparing "Spicy Methi~Beet~Egg Curry" … My Style …
** Ingredients :
Hard Boiled Eggs : 4-6
Methi / Fenugreek Leaves : 1 cup finely chopped.
Beetroot / Chukandar : 1 medium sized.
Onion / Kanda / Piyav : 3-4 large sized
Tomato : 2 large sized
Coconut Milk : 200 ml / 1 cup
Salt to taste
Oil : 2 tblsp
Ghee : 3 tblsp
** Masala to be Ground :
Coconut : 2 full cups.
Coriander / Kothimbir / Dhania Powder : 1 tblsp
Cumin / Jeera Powder : 1 tsp
Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder : 4-5 tblsp
Haldi / Turmeric Powder : a pinch
Garlic / Losun / Lehsun : 6-8 Peeled and chopped
** Hard Boil 4-6 eggs, shell them, make slight slits on the surface and keep them ready aside. Please check the link given at the bottom of the recipe for perfect hard boiled eggs if you need to know the method.
** For Methi Leaves : Choose fresh green tender methi leaves always for preparing any dishes. Pick and clean the methi / fenugreek leaves, discarding the stems. We need to add only the leaves for preparing of this curry. Wash well and strain off excess water and chop them finely. Squeeze out as much water as possible and keep it ready aside.
** Note: You can apply a little bit of salt to the methi leaves and rub it all over and leave aside for 10-20 minutes and then squeeze of the water from methi leaves properly, wash and keep this aside ready too. This above step is carried out to remove the bitterness from fresh methi leaves. I personally do not follow the salt method, and prepare them as mentioned above. I strongly believe that it should be consumed as it is for its awesome health properties. You may choose any method.
** For Beetroot : Wash the beetroot and slice off the stem portion and then peel off the skin. Now with the help of a medium sized grater, grate the beetroot and keep it ready aside. You can also slice the beet into thin julienne instead of using large sized grater.
** Peel off the skin of the onions and slice them into thin lengthwise slices and keep them ready aside. Wash, wipe and finely chop the tomatoes into pieces and keep them also ready aside. Also keep the coconut milk ready if preparing the same at home. I have used store bought as we get good ones in our vicinity. You can use any, I have given the preparation method of coconut milk at the bottom of this recipe if need be.
** For Grinding the Masala : In mixer grinder add in freshly grated coconut with coriander powder, jeera powder, garlic, kashmiri red chilly powder, haldi powder and grind to a coarse rava texture consistency paste with only that much water how much is necessary. Remove and keep this aside. Do not make the masala very fine, slightly coarse texture tastes crunchy and great.
** In a thick bottomed kadai/pan add in both ghee and oil, when hot lower the heat and add in the boiled eggs to which insertions and made and fry for a minute tossing it well adding a pinch of haldi powder. Remove and keep it aside in a plate to be added on later to the curry. Now add in the onion sliced lengthwise in the same ghee+oil and fry till they turns slightly brown in colour. Do not allow to get browned, just a tinge of change in color.
** Now immediately add in the methi leaves and fry for a minute on high heat, lower the heat, cover and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Add in finely chopped tomato pieces, mix well, again cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes or till the tomatoes have turned soft. Now add in the grated beetroot, salt to taste and mix well. Again cover and cook for 2-3 minutes till the tomatoes, beet and methi leaves are cooked. Do not overcook them, the whole process hardly takes 10 minutes in all.
** Now add in the ground masala and mix well. If too thick add in half a cup of water, mix well and bring to full heat, you will see bubbles appearing on top. Take care and do not let the curry get burnt at the bottom as it is coarsely ground and chances are more of the same, so keep stirring it often. Once cooked, lower the heat to minimum, add in the fried and kept aside boiled eggs to the curry and simmer for 5 -7 minutes well.
** Finally add in the coconut milk and mix well on medium heat. Cook on medium heat, stirring often to avoid the gravy getting burnt on medium heat. Once it comes to full boil remove from fire and keep it aside covered for 15-20 minutes for the flavors to seep in. It is very important to stop further cooking or simmering the curry once it comes to full boil on addition of coconut milk to prevent curdling. So be careful and do so. The curry is now done.
** "Spicy Methi~Beet~Egg Curry" is done and ready to be served. An excellent Egg curry with the addition of fresh methi leaves and beetroot, that tastes excellent giving it both a bitter, sweet taste. The curry is prepared spicy keeping in mind the sweet taste of beetroot, so I suggest you need to add in more of chilly powder for the curry to get slightly spicier. But trust me the end result is a sweet-spicy taste that is superb when relished with roti, chapati, parathas. You can serve it with our very own panpolo/neer dosa too.
** Do try out this healthy egg curry and enjoy with your family and friends. It tastes awesome and you can serve it with any accompaniment of your choice too. Beetroot imparts a lovely bright red colour to the dish which will be love by Children who actually fancy such dishes. Also both beetroot and methi leaves are good for health, again if you want to cut down on oil, you can use a Teflon coated pan, but the curry actually tastes good in this combination.
** Note : You can cut down the spice level if need be if you feel the chilly powder content is more as per your daily food norms. Again, remember to use Kashmiri red chilly powder coz. not only is it less spicier but it actually imparts a good colour to the dish too. But if you are using any other chilly powder, then be careful on its addition and use your own judgment and add in the same.
** Note : Always serve Egg Curry fresh as it does not taste that good the next day unlike chicken or fish curries. Chicken curries always taste better the next day so are some fish curry. Egg does not impart any flavor to the curry unlike chicken and fish, so the gravy remains the same and does not mature on keeping. Fresh boiled eggs are always a delight to eat and it loses taste on time. So it is best consumed with 24 hours.
** Note : Always use fresh eggs as far as possible while cooking any type of egg dishes. We actually never really know the date of the same while we buy, as it is difficult to check up on. Though you can drop it in water and test, that can be done only after reaching home. I buy eggs in bulk as it gets used up, but if it is festive season or if I know I will not be able to do justice to the same, I never buy them in bulk, or if I have excess always give it off to my maid. So remember to use fresh ones always.
** Given below is the link to perfectly "Hard Boiled Eggs", Do go through the link and follow the correct procedure of boiling eggs to get the right soft boiled consistency, if you are a novice and want to learn the same. Many have sometimes not given a thought to the same, and just keep boiling the eggs for long time, thinking it needs that much time or sometimes without noticing. That is simply not good, and the eggs need perfectly timed cooking for remaining healthy and nutritious.
** A little bit about Coconut Milk : Coconut milk is freely available in tetra packs in stores and I always use readymade one's. They are excellent and come in handy in cutting short the long procedures of cooking in today's fast space life style. Having said this it is not difficult to prepare coconut milk at home too. You need freshly grated white part of the coconut for this purpose. Take about 3 cups of freshly grated coconut and soak them in half a liter of boiling water for 20 mins. Once it has cooled down put it in mixer grinder and grind to a very fine paste. The paste should be very smooth and well ground. Sieve through a cotton / muslin cloth well. The thick white milk obtained is coconut milk. You can add the strained residue from the cloth again into mixer grinder and add in another glass or two of water and grind again well for a few minute. Sieve this again through muslin / cotton cloth but collect the milk in a different vessel as this is thinner in texture. The second thin milk obtained can be used while cooking the veggies or chicken while the first thick milk obtained should always be added on last to the curry.
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