My Mom’s Boiled Egg Curry

Almost everyone has a favorite food cooked by their moms. I do too, and I have to say, quite a few, my mom was a wonderful cook, and I find myself longing for her specialties every now and then. One very particular dish of hers that I grew up loving was this humble boiled egg curry. Now I make it for my family and they love it as me if not more.  It’s a very special curry for me because my mother never cooked meat, so egg curry was a cherished weekend treat in our house all year round.

So, my dear friends, this curry brings back warm memories of my mother. A recipe I hold dear to my heart that I wanted to share with all of you today on my mom’s 12th death anniversary, which was yesterday.

Egg curries are very popular in India and are prepared in many styles.  This one is a very simple recipe made with boiled eggs, onion, besan and tomato.  I haven’t seen any Punjabi family make something quite the same, neither have I come across it in a recipe. Besan thickens the gravy and gives it a robust nutty flavor making it extremely comforting and delicious.

Start by boiling the eggs depending on how you like them. Everyone has their own preference for a perfect boiled egg.  My preferred method of preparing hard boiled eggs is to add the eggs to cold water in the pan and boil for 1 minutes, uncovered. Once they are cooked remove the pan from heat , cover and leave them in hot water for 10-12 minutes. While the eggs were resting, I continued on with the other part of the recipe.

Place the frying pan with oil over medium heat.  As soon as it gets hot, add ground onions and sauté for about 4-5 minutes. Add ground ginger and garlic and sauté 2mintes. Add besan, stir and cook until flour is toasted. You will need to ensure that you regularly stir and scrape because besan does have the tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. I usually add in 2 tbsp. water after toasting it for 1 min and then keep stirring for another 1 min until it smells toasty and turns light brown. Thereafter, add fresh tomato puree and spices, cook for about 3-4 minutes until oil glistens on top. Then pour in water. Stir it around, increase the heat to high and let it come to a boil and cook for 5 min. If you’re interested you can add boiled potatoes to the curry but we never did.

Once you get the eggs out of hot water, submerge them in cold water bath for 2-5 minutes. You want them to be cool enough to handle them shell wise but still medium hot from inside. Peel and cut each egg in half lengthwise (pressing straight down) using a sharp smooth edged knife with a thin blade. It gives you even cut. If there are egg residue on the knife wipe on a wet kitchen towel. Its best if you wipe each time you make a cut. Slide the eggs in curry just before serving.

Since this egg curry is a gravy recipe it can be enjoyed with both roti and rice. This time I served my curry with yummy homemade naan, but often we just have basmati rice.