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!!

Your feedback is important to me. If you have tried any recipes from Pinch of Swad, feel free to share with us.

You may also like Egg Biryani, Halloween Pizza Mummies, Chicken biryani

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

Moong Dal Dosa

We all know that South Indian kitchens are always bursting with different kinds of fermented batters :) The steel containers filled with white flowy liquid, the sizzle on the griddle/tava when you dump a ladle full of batter is a nostalgic view or sound that we experience every now and then in our kitchens. I love my weekend mornings where we have a stomach full of yumilicious breakfasts!

Since most of us have become healthy eaters and conscious about our food choices, we are constantly looking to substitute our authentic traditional recipes with more healthy ingredients. So here is one of the dosa recipes that does not make use of Rice ingredient but uses only Lentils! The outcome is delicious crispy Dosas. Another advantage being, this recipe call for no fermentation, only soaking of lentils is required.

Yellow moong dal and black split dal(urad dal) are the only 2 ingredients needed. Soak it, grind it and make dosas. It is easy and satisfying! I am so glad that my husband likes it more than I do :) I usually compliment it with spicy chutneys! I like garlic red coconut chutney with it! You can serve it with regular cilantro coconut chutney, red peanut chutney or any vegetable curry too.

So without any further ado, let us take a quick look at this Moong dal Dosa recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow moong dal
• 1 cup urad dal (black split gram dal)
• handful chopped onion and cilantro (optional)
• salt to taste

Preparation:

• Soak the dals for 4-5 hours. Grind in a blender with just enough water to make it a smooth flowing paste.(not too thin) Add salt and mix everything. 
• Heat a dosa pan/non-stick pan/cast iron pan, add few drops of oil gingerly and spread it on the pan. 
• Drop 1 big spoon/ladle of dosa batter on the dosa pan, and using the back of the spoon/ladle go in circular motions to spread it evenly and uniformly over a high flame.
• This step is optional: You can sprinkle cilantro leaves and onions on the dosa.
• Add drops of oil around the edges of the dosa and some in the center in circular motion.
• Let it cook for a minute or so, you can see it browning slowly and the edges start lifting. Some like to cook(brown) the dosa on both sides, I prefer it on one side.
• Now fold it and put it on a serving plate. Serve hot with Chutneys/Sambar/Any vegetable curry.

njoY!! happY cookinG!!

You may also like: 

Red Peanut Chutney

Idli and Vegetable Sambar

Plain Dosa

Besan Chillas

Oats Idli

Health Benefits:

Yellow Moong dal

Yellow Moong Dal: Split Moong Dal is a type of lentil, specially used in India with rice or roti. Split Moong dal is prepared from Mung beans only. The outer skin is being removed and split. It makes this lentil in yellow color. It is good source of protein and dietary fiber. It is low in fat and rich in potassium, calcium and B complex vitamins. It is easy to digest and not like other pulses which are heavy for digestion.

Urad Dal

Black Split Gram Dal: Urad dal has protein, fat, and carbohydrates which is required by the body. This dal is one of the richest sources of proteins and Vitamin B. Urad dal is also good for women as it has iron, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, potassium which makes it a healthy pulse. It is also rich in fibre which makes it easy to digest. Some types of dals are good for the heart as well. Consuming urad dal helps to reduce cholesterol and improves cardiovascular health.

Lehsuni Kasoori Methi Lachcha Paratha (Layered Flatbread with Garlic and Dry Fenugreek Leaves)

Various nutritious flatbreads come from the colorful subcontinent of India. You pick any grain and you will come across a unique style of flatbread preparation with it. Be it millets, johar, wheat, rice, chickpea, etc etc. Then there are unlimited types of stuffed flatbread...it is simply amazing!

In this post, I am going to show you how to make a simple layered paratha called as lachcha paratha and I am making it even more special by adding some ghee with garlic and dry fenugreek leaves ( kasoori methi). My fav herb, kasoori methi, it smells so great and adds amazing flavors in your dish. This lachcha paratha with a twist tastes super yummy! My kid enjoys his lachcha paratha by dipping in the melted ghee.

Having a perfectly made paratha to go with the delicious curry is like sone pe suhaga ( icing on the cake :))

Lachcha paratha is basically made using all purpose flour to make it flaky and sometimes crisp. But in my recipe, I have tried to use half maida and half whole wheat flour, it comes out just as good!

Let us take a look at the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
• water for kneading
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp sugar (add little more if you like, or skip altogether if you don't like sweet)
• 1 tbsp ghee
• more flour for dusting
• salt to taste

For the filling:

• 2-3 tbsp ghee melted ( or butter )
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (or garlic powder)
• 3 tbsp crushed fenugreek leaves

  

                                                                    Stuffed Lachcha (Strips and spiral)

OR

                                                                       Plain Lachcha (Pleated style)

Roast

Plain Lachcha Paratha with Gobi sabji

Preparation:

• Add both the flours and salt into a mixing bowl. Add warm one tablespoon of ghee into the flours. Warm the milk and dissolve the sugar in it. Add the mixture to the flours and mix thoroughly. 
• Add enough water little by little and knead lightly to make a soft dough. Keep aside for 15 minutes covered.
• Now make the filling mixture. In 2 tbsp of warm ghee add 1 tbsp of minced garlic or garlic powder. In another dry bowl, take kasuri methi and crush with your hands nicely and keep it aside.
• Divide the dough into 4-5 equal portions of balls. Roll out each ball into a thin, six to seven-inch round roti. 
• Brush the entire surface of each roti with garlic ghee mixture and sprinkle kasoori methi generously over it, and then dust with flour. 
• There are 2 ways of making this, either pleat the rolled disc of roti or cut into strips 1 inch apart with a knife. They will look like ribbon strips. Now start spiraling each strip from left to right, one inside the other. See the pics. Make one big roll. 
• Press gently, dust  more flour on it and roll out lightly into a five to six-inch paratha. Heat a tava, cook each paratha on both sides on medium heat.
• Pour a little ghee all around and shallow-fry the paratha till both sides are golden brown. Lightly crush the parantha with your hands to separate the layers. 
• Serve hot immediately with any vegetable curry or non-veg curry! I usually make gobi or baingan sabji or egg curry along with boondi raita.

You may also like Aloo Paratha, Mooli Paratha, Ragi Poori.....

njoy!! happY cookinG!!

my 'twist' idea to lachcha paratha is adapted from cubes n juliennes site.

Notes:* I have shown both plain Lachcha and Stuffed Lachcha in the pics!

dry fenugreek /kasoori methi

Health Benefits: Fenugreek leaves is highly beneficial for treating poor liver functions and dyspepsia. It is also helpful in treating gastric problems and other intestinal issues.  These leaves are also used in the powdered form for treating GI issues, as well as allergies or congestion of the upper respiratory zone. Kasoori Methi is tremendously beneficial for breastfeeding women; its regular use enhances milk production. 

Whole wheat flour has less gluten and is said to be a healthier grain to be used for baking etc. Said to improve metabolism.

Garlic a herb used widely as a flavoring in cooking, and has also been used as a medicine throughout ancient and modern history to prevent and treat a wide range of conditions and diseases.

Garlic has been used to treat hypertension, TB, liver disorders, dysentery, flatulence, colic, intestinal worms, rheumatism, diabetes, and fevers.