Marias Menu » Egg Recipes

Kerala Style Egg & Potato Curry

Maria — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:34:03 +0000

I always tell you we have loads to catch up on, but I never get around to it… till now. Now that I’m somewhat back to my normal schedule, we can catch up, provided you’ve time to spare, so ready? Ok, so what would you like to have… tea… coffee… anything cold or something to munch on? Since I can only offer it virtually, please feel free to grab one yourself ;)

I wanna share with you three different cooking experiences I had, one was fun, another was adventurous & the last one was a lesson! I’ll start with my apprentice experience, that’s where I had most fun. I worked as an apprentice at a bakery division of a local supermarket, here in Bahrain. I visit that place frequently, say twice or thrice in a week. Every time I go there, I’ll spend sometime in front of the bakery section, just staring at their glass shelves, full of cakes & pastries. As you might already know, bakery is my all time weakness. Well, one day as usual, during my staring session, the bakery supervisor came to me. As we chatted, he suddenly asked me whether I’d like to work there for a few days, just for a feel of the whole thing. Tada! The next thing you know, I was given an apron & a chef cap. Ready, set, wait… the biggest excitement is yet to come. All the employees in the bakery are North Indians and no I don’t have anything against them… but you see Hindi & myself aren’t the best of friends. For a moment, I thought, I became breathless… it was like air being let out of my excitement balloon. Anyways, somehow we communicated and it was fun! They all treated me like a small little school girl who’s on a picnic, thanks to my height. (Btw, I used to hate being treated like a small girl when I was growing up, but now somehow I like it… I guess that feeling is inversely proportional to my age ;) Anyways, back to the bakery… I was offered the first share of every item that came out of the hot oven! And then there were stacks of cakes, both chocolate & vanilla. I could pick any & start playing with it… I mean icing it. There were tons of chocolate ganache, butter cream, praline etc; just waiting for their turn. So just like my 4 year old nephew plays with his play dough I started playing with food :) I had a fun ride for 3 days. Apart from enjoying the hustle & bustle of a live borma, I didn’t learn much. Ok, that’s not true, I learned how to pipe a butter cream rose, now that’s a good thing & I had a gala time too.

Ok, that was a fun ride, now for the adventurous one! Not too soon after, I was asked to take a cookery class for a group of 30 people, for a Malayalee association in Bahrain… the Kottayam Association to be precise. I guess I had an adrenaline rush at that time, because I accepted it without any hesitation! When I told Jose about my new adventure, seeing my excitement about the whole thing, he kept quite for sometime. I was wondering what’s wrong & then he said “I guess the association people are more adventurous by asking YOU to do something like that”… *sigh*! You see… I’m a person who panics when we have guests over, so imagine taking a cookery class! As the day approached, I had my panic attack. Unfortunately then, these Royal sick bags weren’t available, otherwise I could have used them! Why am I so freaked out? Well, you have to know one thing – I haven’t attended a cooking class, let alone take one. I just had no clue. Then I made a huge list of what all can go wrong. Yeah, that helps! I had just relived my MBA days of C++ & Java. I am clueless now as I was then! But you know that feeling… that you are sure to fail, so you dont care what the hell happens, yeah I had that. And I guess I work the best under such situations! Because somehow once I started the class everything went well (see on the job training works!) & I did enjoy it. I believe the group also enjoyed it. Here’s something they gave me as a token of appreciation ;) Thank you so much Dolly Aunty for believing in me & thanks a million to Sudin & Susan, for giving me the opportunity and also for your support.

Here comes the last one… lesson learned: I’m like a duck in water. I was thrown in, and now I’m trying to figure out how to paddle. That’s how my whole cooking experience has been. So that’s what I did next, attend a cooking class to really learn how it should be done. While I was at home in Cochin, I got the chance to attend a baking class. First I thought I could learn some more baking tips and styles, the science behind it, but more importantly I wanted to learn how cooking classes were given. That reminds me, in college whenever we used to study a new subject, it used to start with something like “Management is a science as well as an art”, that kinda stuff? Well, I always ignored the science part & considered the whole thing as art. So that’s what I did in baking also. I never bothered about the science part, like aeration blah blah… but in this class it was explained in simple terms, so that lay(wo)man like me could also understand. I also observed the whole process carefully, about how things should be arranged, how you need to organise the class & stuff like that. So now I’m all set to take another cooking class… are you interested ?? :)

Anyways, the best thing about all these experiences was I made new friends… isnt that great!? :)

Btw, I forgot to tell you about the situation in Bahrain. See that’s what happens, when everything goes well, you take things for granted right? Thank you so much for your mails & messages & the positive vibes you sent :). Situation has improved here since my last post. Things are slowly getting back to normal state.

So your coffee… tea is done? I wont take much of your time. I’ll just leave you with this simple egg & potato curry. The other day, one of my readers, Joyce, asked for an egg & potato curry. Here is something I came up with. It’s a mildly spicy curry, I think its apt to call a spicier version of stew. This curry should help you during lent. Also if you dont eat eggs, you can use veggies of your choice & make it a mixed veg curry. I know you are tired from listening to my ranting, but please dont forget to note down the recipe, ok? (Joyce, hope you’ll like it & you too.)

Here it goes:

Kerala Style Egg & Potato Curry

Recipe type: Side dish

Author: Maria Jose

Prep time: 12 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 27 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Hard boiled eggs – 5
Potato – 1 small-medium, cooked & cut into cubes
Onion – 1 big, finely sliced
Green chilli – 4 -5, slit lengthwise
Ginger & garlic paste – 1 1/2 tsp, each
Coriander powder – 1 1/2 – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Fennel powder (perumjeerakam podichathu) – 1/2 tsp
Garam masala – a pinch
Thick coconut milk – 2 cups ( refer notes)
Cashew paste – Optional (refer notes)
Coconut oil
Salt
Curry leaves

Instructions

Heat oil in a pan & add finely sliced onions & salt. When onion becomes golden brown color, add green chilli & ginger garlic paste. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the masala powders & a 1/2 tsp of oil & fry for 3 minutes. Add cooked potatoes & mix well. Add thick coconut milk & bring to boil. Reduce flame to lowest & add hard boiled eggs & cook till the gravy becomes thick, say around 5 mins. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with palappam, kallappam, puttu & chapathi.
For veg variation:
You can use veggies like carrot, beans, cauliflower, green peas etc; Cook the vegetables first & add it along with the potato. Rest of the recipe is same.

Notes

I used potatoes & carrot also for this curry. We need loads of “chaaru” (gravy), so I’ve used 2 cups of coconut milk, you can adjust the qty to suit your taste. Also if you dont prefer a creamy curry, you can use medium thick coconut milk instead of thick coconut milk. To enhance taste & also give a rich flavor, you can add cashew paste also. Mix the cashew paste in coconut milk & add to the curry. To make cashew paste, soak a small handful of cashews in hot water for 5-7 mins & grind them to a smooth paste.

Why not leave a comment? Quick, head on over to MariasMenu.com for more tasty, delicious and simple recipes! Remember to check out the Recipe Index to find some easy-to-cook dishes. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family about MariasMenu!

Tomato Souffle

Maria — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:50:42 +0000

How are you? It’s been sometime right….I was a bit busy over the past few days. Now I’m getting back to my usual lazy routine ;)

About this recipe….let me tell you something, I always associated the word “souffle” with sweet puddings. Pineapple souffle is one of the dessert that makes a frequent appearance in party menu back home. When I saw this recipe in AWW ( I’m a big fan of their recipes) I was a bit curious to find out how it tastes like. I’ve never tasted a savoury souffle before. I looked at the recipe and it was an easy one. The only ingredient that I didnt have at home was tomato paste, rest is the normal everyday stuff that I use.

So one of those days when I wasnt in a mood to make choru (rice) n curry, I decided to experiment. I was pretty sure that Jose will like it, because he is a fan of anything that has eggs n cheese. But let me be honest, when I gave this to Jose initially, I had to assure him ‘n’ number of times that it tastes nice. Towards the end he was complaining that I didnt make enough, now how’s that :)??

If you have all the ingredients ready, then it takes no time to whip this up. We had it as a main meal with some toasted garlic bread. It was a welcome change from our usual Kerala lunch menu….

Check out the tomato souffle made by Bharathy, Swapna’s Tomato Souffle, Faiza’s Tomato Souffle based on the above recipe, for the Sweet punch challenge. Thanks a lot Bharathy, Swapna & Faiza :)

Tomato Souffle

Recipe type: Main Dish

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Bread crumbs – 1/2 cup, firmly packed
Butter – 45 gm (refer healthier version)Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
Plain flour (maida) – 2 tbsp
Milk – 1 cup
Tomato paste – 3 tbspBasil – 1 tbsp, finely chopped (optional)
Eggs – 3, separated
Grated Cheese – a handful ( I used mozzarella)

Instructions

Grease 4 souffle dishes (1/2 cup capacity), sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Melt butter in small saucepan, add finely chopped onion. Stir over low heat for 2 mins ( or MW on HIGH for about 2 mins). Cook until onion is soft, it doesn’t have to become brown. Stir in flour and stir over medium heat for a minute. (or MW on HIGH for a min). Remove from heat, gradually stir in milk, bring back to heat and stir over high heat until mixture boils & thickens & reaches a thick sauce like consistency. (or MW on HIGH for about 3 mins).
Transfer to large bowl, stir in tomato paste & basil leaves. Cover the dish & let it stand for 5 mins. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks from. Add egg yolks to the onion & milk mixture & mix well. Fold the egg whites into the mixture in 2 batches. Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared dishes. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20- 25 mins or until lightly browned. Serves 4.
Healthier version:
use brown bread crumbs & low fat milk. Also use yolks of only 2 eggs & white of 3 eggs. Use only lesser qty of butter, I used only 15 gms of butter.

Notes

The above qty serves 2 adults (main course) served with garlic bread or soup. You can use any oven safe dish to prepare this. The consistency of this dish is more like a pudding. I didnt have basil with me, so I didnt add. The original recipe doesnt add any spices, but you can add crushed pepper while cooking onion, if you wish.

Substitute for tomato paste: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/312148

Egg Chutney Kebab

Maria — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 20:38:27 +0000

Ramadan Kareem! The holy month of Ramadan started last week. Some of you sent me email asking for special Ramadan recipes. That’s when I was reminded about the Malabar Cuisine cookery book I bought from Kerala last year. Though I had bookmarked many recipes in that book, didn’t get a chance to try any. So what’s a better time than this to try out the Malabar delicacies?

This recipe is completely new to me. I’ve always noticed that egg plays an important role in Malabar cuisine. They use egg as a main ingredient in a variety of dishes and this one is no exception. This can be served as a tea time snack or as a starter. I was a bit skeptical about how it would turn out but I was surprised with the end result. How such simple ingredients can be turned into something this beautiful still astonishes me. Hope you like it too.

Here is the recipe:

Eggs (hardboiled & cut lengthwise) – 4
Egg white, lightly beaten – 2
Oil – for deep frying

For Chutney

Coconut, grated – 3/4 cup
Green chillies – 2
Ginger & garlic – 1/2 – 1 tsp, each
Coriander leaves – a big handful
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Salt

Grind coconut, green chillies, ginger, garlic & coriander to a paste. Add a little water, if required. Add lemon juice & salt to the coconut chutney & mix well. Take a piece of boiled egg and cover with chutney over the cut surface.

Evenly dip in beaten egg whites and fry carefully. Repeat the process with all the eggs. Serve hot with tomato sauce/ketchup.

Check out the other egg recipes here:

Egg & Peas Kurma

Maria — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:21:16 +0000

Sometime back, one of Jose’s colleague told him, “hey, I heard your wife has a food website, so she is a great “cooker” eh?” Jose was like…”cooker”? He replied ” Yeah, she cooks well” to which that person replied “You are lucky to have a good cooker as your wife” ;) So now I’ve been tagged with the title “cooker” blogger ;)

If you are the cooker of your family ;), I’m sure that you will agree with me if I say….it take less time to cook than to decide “what to cook”. I’ve heard from many friends that they don’t mind cooking as long as they know what to cook. That decision making is the toughest part for many and consumes most of our precious time. Even I’ve the same confusion at times… egg recipes come to my rescue at these times. When I’m in doubt about what to cook or if I don’t have many choices, I always go for an egg curry. It’s easy to make and it goes with almost anything.

I’ve bookmarked this recipe long time ago, but finally made it the other day when I had no clue as to what to make.

Hope you too will enjoy this:

Hard boiled eggs – 5
Onion – 2 big, finely sliced
Tomato – 2 (grind to a paste)
Green chilly – 5, split lengthwise
Cooked green peas – 1/2 cup
Coriander powder – 2-3 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 – 1/2 tsp
Ginger & garlic – 1 tbsp, chopped
Whole pepper – 1 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - a small stick
Cloves – 3
Cardamom – 3
Medium thick coconut milk – 1 1/2 cups
Thick coconut milk – 1/2 cup
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Salt
Oil

Grind/crush together number 7 ingredients. Heat oil in a pan and add finely sliced onions. When onion becomes golden brown colour, add the ground masala & curry leaves. Cook till the raw smell of masala goes. Add coriander & turmeric powder, cook for a few minutes. Add tomato paste & salt. When oil starts appearing, add the cooked green peas and stir well. Add the medium thick coconut milk. Let it boil. Add the egg pieces, and cook for 5 more minutes. Add thick coconut milk and cook for around 5 more minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.Serve hot with roti/appam/chapathi/puttu etc;

Notes: I used coconut oil for this recipe. In the original recipe, potato is also used. If you want, you can use 1 medium size potato (cubed & boiled) and add it along with the green peas.

Also check out other egg recipes here:

Recipe source: Lakshmi Nair, Magic Oven cookery show

Scrambled Egg Curry

Maria — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:28:41 +0000

The season of lent has started. One of the most asked questions, by the hard core carnivores, during this period is “what to make with these vegetables” ?? No, I havent given up any non veg. Its usually said that you should sacrifice the most loved items/things/habit. Be it food, watching movies etc; I dont mind eating vegetables for 50 days, am ok with it.

I get the maximum number of requests for veg curries during this time. This is a good curry that you can make during lent season. Hey, you can make it otherwise also, lent or no lent :). I really liked this mainly because of the simplicity of ingredients and its super easy to make. This is going to be a regular at our place. You can finish making this in 10 mins or so. If you’ve any unexpected guests, this comes very handy.

Hope you will like it too..

Here is the recipe:

Eggs – 2
Onion – finely chopped – 1/2 cup
Tomato – chopped 1
Green chilly – 2-3
Curry leaves
Chilly powder – 1/2-1 tsp
Garam masala – 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Thick coconut milk – 1 1/4 cup
Salt
Oil

Heat oil in a pan and add number 2 ingredients. When onion becomes golden brown color, add the spice powders & salt and fry till the oil starts appearing. Add beaten eggs to this. scramble the eggs well along with the masala. When the eggs are cooked, add the coconut milk. Mix well. Cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from fire. Serve hot with chappathi/roti, puttu, idiyappam, appam etc;

Notes: If you want more egg pieces in the curry, you can add extra eggs. Also, if you are worried about the cholestrol part, add only the egg whites :). I used coconut oil for this recipe. You can adjust the spices as per your taste.

Check out the scrambled egg curry at Magpies, based on the above recipe. Thanks a ton sweetie for posting it :)

Please check out the picture of scrambled egg curry made by Nisha Kuruvilla, one of the reader’s of this blog. Thank you dear :)

Ambily Thomas, one of the readers of MariasMenu shared her pic of scrambled egg curry. Please have a look, thanks Ambily :)

See the Scrambled egg curry, made by Josphine, based on the above recipe. Thanks dear :)

Other egg recipes:

Recipe source: Vanitha Magazine

Lemon-Glazed Christmas Wreath Cookies

Maria — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:05:39 +0000

Here is something for your Christmas goodie bag, to gift your loved ones. Perfect for the season!

So how’s your Xmas preparations going on? All set for the holidays? Now talking about the holidays…we are leaving for a short holiday this week :) Hence I thought I will wish you in advance. We will be back before Xmas but I am not sure whether I will put be putting any post… I do have some recipes in draft, but its not apt for the season and since I’m already in the holiday mood, kitchen is kinda closed ;). Anyways, lets see…

We, Jose & myself, wish you and your loved ones a Merry Xmas!! May this season bring you happiness, peace & joy! Have a great holiday with loads of fun & yummy food :)

About the recipe…I got it from a lovely book. The first time I opened the book, I landed upon the recipe of this cookie. I liked everything about it. The taste, texture & not to mention the shape :). I’ve already made 2 batches in a week’s time.

Here is the recipe and hey before going to the recipe, did you see that green little wreath in the photo? That’s my dear sis Ammu’s contribution. Thank you dearie :)

Cookies before icing…

Now the recipe:

Self – raising flour – 3 cups/450 gm
Butter – 125gm/ 1/2 cup (refer notes)
Milk – 1/4 cup (60ml)
Caster sugar – 2/3 cup/ 110 gm
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Eggs – 2, room temp
Silver edible glitter – to decorate (optional)
Lemon Icing
Icing sugar – 3 cups (480 gm)
Lemon juice – 2 tbsp (approx)

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F, 10 mins before baking. Sift flour into medium bowl, rub in butter. Combine milk & sugar in small saucepan, stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved, add extract; cool 5 -10 mins. Stir combined warm milk mixture and egg into flour mixture. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth.

Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into 13 cm rope. Twist two ropes together, form into circles; press edges together. Place about 3cm apart on oven trays. Bake about 15 mins. Cool on wire racks. When the cookies are completely cooled drizzle the lemon icing on the cookies.

Lemon Icing

Sift icing sugar into a heat proof bowl; stir in enough juice to make a firm paste. Stir over small saucepan of simmering water until pourable.

Notes: If you haven’t made cookie of this shape before, I suggest you watching this video. It will give you an idea about shaping the cookie. I kept the butter at the room temperature for 20-25 mins. My cookie was ready in 10-12 mins. So keep an eye on cookie after 10 mins. If you dont like lemon flavor, you can substitute it with vanilla or any flavor of your choice. Instead of drizzling, I brushed the icing on the cookie with a pastry brush.

Substitution for self raising flour – to get 1 cup self-raising flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder+ 1/4 tsp salt to 1 cup all purpose flour. (source: http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html)

Also check out the Christmas Menu.

Recipe adapted from Cookies & Biscuits by The Australian Women’s Weekly

Vegetable Omelet / Omelette

Maria — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:32:52 +0000

Weekends are the only time we have a heavy breakfast. Fridays we usually go out (yes, in this part of the world, weekends are on Fridays & Saturdays!) and Saturdays I try to make something interesting at home. The problem is that if I like something, I’ll be making it again n again until I can’t handle anymore, not even a single bite or a sip.

We were having pancake mornings on Saturdays for quite some time and now I’ve reached the limit!! These days I try to keep 10 ft away from the sight of a pancake mix.

So, last week I started playing around with omelet. That’s how I came up with this. I don’t know whether this is ‘blog worthy’ or not. Anyways it’s an easy one and one more thing, this recipe is good for kids. Most of the cookery shows (at least the ones I watch) usually end with a standard closing sentence “your kids will surely love this dish”. After hearing it so many times, I started thinking about the poor kids being made guinea pigs. Since I’ve that in my mind, I usually try not to say in my recipes that kids will love this dish. But this time, it’s an exception. I think your kids will really like it, if not love it ;)

And hey, one last thing before we go to the recipe. To make our site user friendly, we’ve added features like “Print this recipe” and “Email this recipe” which you can see at the bottom of each recipe at the site. Hope you find it useful.

Anyways, here is the recipe:

Eggs – 4 (refer notes)
Milk – 1/4 – 1/2 cup
Onion – 1 small, finely chopped
Tomato – 1 small, finely chopped
Carrots – 2-3 tbsp, grated
Green chilly – 2, chopped
Grated cheese – 2 tbsp
Salt & crushed pepper – to taste
Seasonings – to taste (optional, refer notes)
Oil/Butter – refer notes

Beat the eggs & salt together. Add milk & beat again. Heat oil/butter in a deep frying non stick pan. Pour in the egg batter. Sprinkle the chopped onions, tomato, green chilly, grated carrots and cheese on top of the egg base. Sprinkle the crushed pepper & other seasonings too. Cover and cook for 2-3 mins (approx, it can vary depending on the thickness of the omelet) on low flame. When one side is cooked, flip the omelet and cook the other side. Serve hot with some salad and there you go with a power packed breakfast :)

Notes: All the measurements can be customized as per your choice. I used 2 whole eggs & only the whites of other 2 eggs. I used low fat milk. This makes it healthier. While greasing the pan for frying, be a bit generous, it will help you flipping the omelet. Also make sure that you don’t crowd the egg base with toppings, otherwise it will become heavier & difficult to flip. You can also add other veggies of your choice like mushroom, capsicum etc; I used basil & garlic & parmesan cheese as the additional seasoning.