Coconut Egg Curry - South Indian Style [Anda Curry]

Who doesn't enjoy a delicious lightly spiced flavorful coconut based egg curry? Egg is one quintessential breakfast food loaded with proteins- liked and consumed by all - good thing being a lot of vegetarians also consume it and are known as Eggetarians 😆  Eggs are the most nutritious food on the planet! There is no doubt about it! On top of everything else, they are also cheap, easy to prepare, go with almost any food and taste awesome.

Egg Curry from coastal southern regions of India is made using garam masala and coconut as its main ingredients. I have tried hard to get that exact taste like my mom's, but its tough 😊  I am close to it and have made my peace with it. ✊

I feel restless when I dont have eggs in my refrigerator. I have to stock it up as soon as I see around dozen left. Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, puffs, egg burji, omelettes, french toast, cakes etc- thats how Eggs are consumed in a healthy and regular basis in my household. It comes to my rescue when I am short on meat at home or for that matter even veggies. There used to be this famous jingle in India- Sunday ho Ya Monday Roz Kaho Ande 🥚 ... a good one indeed :)

 Back home Eggs are treated like a second class citizen 😂. No kidding, when I am chatting with my Mom and if I ask her- "what did you cook for dinner?" There is a sigh in her tone when she says.. just made some egg curry- followed by WHY that decision was made ---like didn't have time to get chicken OR no good variety of fresh fish was available in the market OR due to bad weather she was not able to go get fresh veggies etc etc. So you see what I am saying- justification on why egg curry was made ... 😛

Where as for me here - Egg curry day is like a celebration :) My son is thrilled as he is an ardent and loyal fan of eggs. My husband is neutral - he doesn't enjoy coconut curries so much ...yeh go figure 🙄 ! and Me- full focus on getting the curry taste right just like my Mom's... so its a fun affair.

As a kid, my sister and Mom loved full boiled eggs in the curry whereas me and my Dad loved fresh broken eggs in the curry. Till this date that has not changed. Separate 2 broken eggs always go in my funky-licious Egg Curry/Anda Curry! 

I do not know anyone around me that dislikes eggs. I have a cousin who couldn't eat it due to allergies and I used to feel so bad for her. While growing up my younger cousins gang loved my version of  Plain Omelette. My mom and aunts used to make us omelette loaded with onion/tomatoes/veggies which most of them did not like it then 😁  The same ones that we relish like crazy on Cruises now- 😎

Anyways, Lets get started with the recipe:

Please feel free to modify ingredient quantity as per your taste for spiciness and thickness of curry!

Ingredients:

4 boiled eggs + 2 fresh eggs

3 tbsp oil

1 big onion finely chopped

1 tomato chopped

1 tsp each ginger and garlic paste

salt as per taste

Masala Paste:

1. 5 cloves
2. 1 cardamom
3. 3-4 black pepper
4. 1/2 inch cinnamon
5. 1/4th tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
6. 1/4th tsp sesame seeds 
7. 1/4th tsp poppy seeds
8. 3 tsp coriander seeds
9. 7-8 red dry chillies [adjust as per your taste]
10. 1/2 cup grated coconut + 3 tsp dry grated coconut
11. handful of cilantro leaves
12. 1/4th tsp turmeric

Preparation:

• Roast ingredients from 1-9 in a tsp of oil for few minutes till its fragrant and put it in a blender.
• In the same pan roast coconut  till it is slight brown in color on low heat and then add it to the blender. Add turmeric , cilantro and make a paste by adding water sparingly. Keep aside.
• In a wide mouth utensil heat oil, add finely chopped onions and saute till light brown. Add ginger garlic paste and saute further till the raw smell goes away. Add tomatoes and cook till everything comes together. 
• Now pour the ground masala paste and mix everything nicely. Bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for few minutes. Adjust water and add salt.
• Add the boiled eggs in the curry. You can lightly score the eggs from top to bottom with a knife or you can even lightly roast it in oil with garam masala powder [or chili pwd and turmeric pwd] before adding to the curry, or cut in halves and slide it in the curry- choice is yours! 
• Once the curry starts to simmer again - slowly break the remaining 2 fresh eggs and slide it in the curry. Leave it alone for 5-8 mins on low-med flame till the eggs are done. You can give it a light handed stir in between.
• Enjoy it with rotis or just plain rice or jeera rice. It super yum!

njoY! happY cookinG!!

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Health Benefits:

Incredibly nutritious food! In fact, eggs are pretty much the perfect food. They contain a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. Whole eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet, containing a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. Omega-3 enriched and/or pastured eggs are even healthier. Eggs are high in cholesterol, but eating eggs does not adversely affect cholesterol in the blood for the majority of people. Eating eggs consistently leads to elevated levels of HDL (the "good") cholesterol, which is linked to a lower risk of many diseases. Eggs are among the best dietary sources of choline, a nutrient that is incredibly important but most people aren’t getting enough of.

Source: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-proven-health-benefits-of-eggs#section11