World Wide EGGS

          All the world is shimmering in aliveness. The shapes and words that make up the sprawling map on my bedroom wall are lifeless by comparison. A tease. So often do I look upon this earth-replica, my eyes absently raking over the span of continents and oceans as my thinking mind stews about my personal front-page news. It is as though I am searching for something. Searching, searching, never finding it, because I am searching the earth for a glimpse of the world. Just as with Google Earth-- I can never get close enough! (Am I the only one who feels this way?)

          How lovely when a piece of world flashes out to find me. At least that is how it felt when I landed upon One Hot Stove, an Indian food blog run by Nupur. Although Nupur is now a New Yorker, she is originally from Kohlapur -- an ancient temple town on India's west coast that she describes as having "plenty of unpious, bad-boy attitude."  In her blog, she writes about the region with lively affection and features select recipes to showcase its flavor. She presents a shimmering glimpse.

          Today's adventure begins with the egg, courtesy of Nupur. When I saw her recipe for Egg Rassa, I was intrigued....

 

RECIPE  B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N

Hard-boiled eggs are almost never invited in American main dishes. Just in salad. That's all.

"Its true..." Nupur states in her blog, "Indian food is quite unusual in the use of hard-boiled eggs in entrees...but it makes for a quick and delicious dish!"

So Trina's hesitancy (skepticism?) in crafting this so-called 'egg curry' is understandable. It's safe to say that like most Americans, she had never even heard of such a thing.

Now Trobee on the other hand: "I'm an egg FREAK!" But she has cooked up egg curries before. So she knows.

That's why I decided to give Trina the first run in cooking the Egg Rassa. Unfamiliarity simply makes for a better story. And more fun for me...

*      *     *

Trina's Hesitancy #1: "I just don't know the trick to hard-boiling eggs so that they peel easy. I know there's a trick out there-- I just... don't know it."

Of course, Trobee had an opinion on this: "After you're done boiling them, you just run the pot under cold water til the eggs are cold to the touch."

Trina's Hesitancy #2: "How thick do you want this? Cause the recipe says to 'add water to desired thickness.'"

"Do what you want," I said with a shrug. Thick, thin, it's all good.

Pause. "Well, like, what does this go with?"

I hate that question. "Whatever." But Trina hates that answer. "I would eat it with rice."

"Hm."

*     *    *

Coconut: We didn't have a coconut on the premises, nor is frozen coconut available to us either in Normaltown Midwest U.S. So we pulled out our trusty stash of dried coconut powder, which you can pick up on the cheap at any Indian grocer. Since this area doesn't have one of those either, we have in the past purchased the dried shreds from an ordinary supermarket and powdered it in a coffee grinder. Worked just great. No, it won't be quite the same, as fresh/frozen, but (we hope) it will still be good.

Because we used dried coconut, I'm guessing that we had to add more water than Nupur did.

*      *      *

Trobee made a mistake with the turmeric, adding it much earlier than the recipe directed. "Frick!" she exploded.

"Settle down -- it's OK," I assured her, "As long as you didn't pan-roast the turmeric, the time difference won't noticeably alter the dish's flavor. Look, it's OK.  We're just people. We're not gourmet chefs."

"I just... get so  excited." 

"I know, I know...."

We did note, however, that Trobee's Egg Rassa was of a much more golden-lovely color than Trina's, and so we're going to keep Trobee's 'mistake.'

"It was instinct," I told Trobee. (Hey, you never know.)

*     *     *

When Trina took a bite, she had the funniest, screwed-up look on her face.  It was a  revelation: "I actually like the egg! It balances out the spices."

I asked the nice young lass if it was too strongly-spiced for her comfort level.

"It's not too hot," she said thoughtfully, "but I can taste the spiciness. I'm the biggest wimp in the world, though." (I didn't argue with her.)

Results from Trobee: "Mmhmmm! Beautiful!...This is a real good one, Court. It's a real different-but-cool mixture."

Results from Trina: She was hooked. She seemed a little astonished by this unwarranted  passion. She pirated a few spices from my stash to make it for her boyfriend. In her follow-up email:

Ok so Seth loved it! I was putting some on a plate for him, and I said, well I don't know if you like this so how much do you want? Well he took a spoonful and said yeah give me more and it was a good yeah!...I was like Thats right!! So its a winner!!!

---

Egg Rassa

Nupur writes in her blog: "Egg curry-rice happens to be my favorite comfort food. Every single region of India has its own style of making curries and thousands of recipes exist for egg curry. The one I have chosen is the curry or "rassa" ("ras" means juice and "rassa" is a juicy preparation...a curry) from my home-town.

The curry is not hard to make at all, and the result is very fragrant and tempting. The deep flavors of this curry are very authentic. Anyone who does not care for eggs can easily put some veggies in instead...potato and cauliflower is a good combination."

Below is the NC adaptation. Click here for the original recipe.

• 2 tsp oil
• 3 hard boiled eggs
• 1 large onion, loosely chopped
• ½ tsp garlic paste or minced garlic
• 3/4 cup diced tomatoes (we used canned)
• ½ cup coconut powder(we used dried, Nupur uses fresh/frozen)
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• salt to taste

Masala:

• 4 whole cloves
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 dried chile, de-seeded (Trobee uses 3 and leaves in the seeds)
• ½ tsp poppy seeds
• ½ tsp fennel seeds

1. Heat the oil in a pan until sizzle-hot, then add the masala. Saute until the spices start to sizzle and are aromatic.
2. Add the onion and saute until soft, then add the garlic paste and keep cooking until browned.
3. Add the coconut and fry until toasted.
4. Add the tomatoes, salt and turmeric and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
5. Now blenderize the mixture, adding ¼ cup water to the blender.
6. Transfer the mixture back into the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Peel the eggs and slice them in half. Place them in the pan, spoon some of the sauce over them, and simmer for another minute.

photos by Mo Digital

See our post on MASALA EGGS (OR TOFU)