Egg Cooked with Methi and Paanch Phoron

Traditionally, paanch phoron, meaning the mix of five spices, including fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, and cumin seeds, is used with vegetable preparations in West Bengal. I have grown up seeing my mother and aunts cooking a variety of vegetable dishes using paanch phoron as a flavoring ingredient. However, in modern times, paanch phoron is being used with elan in non-veg preparations as well. I myself have cooked mutton using paanch phoron as a base flavoring agent. The traditional concept that prevailed in our parents' generation that paanch phoron is a spice exclusive to vegetable preparations is slowly becoming obsolete, as not only paanch phoron is used in meat preparations, but also in preparing fishes, eggs and other cuisines. Another spice, which was traditionally used in bitter tasting vegetable preparation in West Bengal, is fenugreek seeds. However, its use is witnessing a lot of changes as methi seeds are now abundantly used in preparing fishes, meat and even eggs. 




The recipe of an egg dish that I am posting today has two uncommon ingredients for non-veg dishes, paanch phoron powder and methi seeds, used as taste enhancers. The recipe is very easy to follow. You may skip on potato or yogurt, if you want the gravy to be simple. 

If you like this recipe, please don't forget to check out other egg recipes posted in this blog,

Peyazkoli Diye Dim

Egg Malai Masala

Egg Shrimp Sukha

Dimer Dhokar Dalna

Egg Keema

Egg Shrimp Dry : Egg Shrimp Sukha

This recipe is really interesting because I have made it on my own playing around with ingredients as were available at home that day. Bored with the same egg curry with lots of gravy floating around it, I wanted to try a dry egg preparation which will not be like a conventional egg curry. I had some left over frozen shrimps which I wanted to make use of and nothing could be better than an egg-shrimp or egg-prawn concoction. I think they go well together like house on fire. If you are regular in my blog you might have noticed another of my posts I made earlier using eggs and prawns together in an omelet. Till date everyone I fed that omelet has been vociferous with their praises. So I hope this one too will create the same impression on my guests and readers. Happy eating!!

Dimer Khichuri - Egg Khichdi

I was shuffling through some old mails I exchanged with friends few years back safely cached in the mailbox. Now I love reading anything old, old diaries, old mails, old books. 'Past' fascinates me; echoes of bygone dust-covered memories associated with anything old take you into the life you once lived but which has no currency in the fast-paced ever-changing present course of life. Memories of school life, college days, first job, first crush, first heart break, marriage, child-bearing, friends, every mote of dust-laden memory that forms our very essence relegate to some remote corner of our minds in the space of time but which come unbidden in moments of reminiscence. I had a habit once of writing diary, a very constructive habit inculcated in me by my English teacher who believed writing tidbits of your life on the pages of a diary not only chronicles the events of your life but brings an edge into your writing skill. I can's say how much my English has improved by the practice of writing diary, but the old diaries stashed away safely in a closet by my mother contain treasures; treasures of memories, treasures of emotions and thoughts poured indiscreetly on the reams of paper all through my growing years. They are as if the silent witnesses of all my maiden vagaries. The old practice of translating life into manuscripts is reaping fruits now in a manner of reliving the past through the memoirs of my girlhood days.

 

Sadly though I have outgrown the habit of writing diaries, I have started nurturing another one by capturing life in my camera frame and making collage of them. As my mother in law once told me while flipping through an old album how the pictures staring at her out of the frayed dust jackets perked  her up taking to a trip down the memory lane, I too want to feel the same way when I will grow old looking back.

 

Dimer Khichuri is not relevant to any memory, only that I thought of tossing the chopped omelets into the khichuri would give an added flavor to the conventional khichuri we relish with all our hearts. Let me know how you guys enjoy it!!

Egg Manchurian

Couple of days ago I was reading an online article that shared few funny strange food facts that I am sure most of us are unaware of, at least I was pretty surprised by the revelation of facts. I would like to touch upon some of them in a nutshell and if you feel interested in reading further, you may click the link cited below.

1) Do you know dynamite can be made with peanuts? Yes, peanut oil can be processed to produce one of the constituents of dynamite: nitroglycerin. Isn't that amazing?

2) Do you know Popsicle that we all must have delightfully savored in our childhood was actually quite accidentally invented by an 11 year old boy back in 1905?

3) Do you know the largest food item ever to be served on a platter is roasted camel? The roasted camel that is stuffed with sheep's meat, which again is stuffed with chicken, which is stuffed with fishes with eggs stuffed inside, has been known to hog the spotlight in Bedouin weddings.

4) The most unique one is still left. Caution: it might shock coffee lovers to the core. One very expensive coffee bean sold between the ranges of $120-$600 per pound actually comes from the poo of a cat sized mammal called Civet.

For more information on such weird facts and phenomenon related to food, please visit the following link:

http://listverse.com/2007/12/17/top-10-incredible-food-facts/

(Disclaimer: The website has not paid me to advertise the page. While hopping through the cyber world, I came across this enlightening bit of news which I thought of sharing with my readers.)

 

 

Anyway, enough musing on the food facts, now let’s focus on the recipe I am going to share today. It's none other than Egg Manchurian. Well, I have tried egg Manchurian many a time following recipes that I could gather from the internet, but none suited my fancy or taste bud so to say, hence after a lot of trials and errors, finally I fixed my mind on the following one which is absolutely my own. I know, I know the list of ingredients is long but hey, it is Egg Manchurian and hence.....

For more recipes on eggs, check out the links below:

Omelet Tortilla Wrap

Spinach Potato Omelet

Mexican Egg

Egg Devil with Mutton Keema

Peyazkoli Diye Dim  

 

 

Omelet Tortilla Wrap

 

Waiting could be so tiresome and frustrating when the duration lingers. Usually my hubby comes home for lunch as the office is hardly at 2 miles distance from where we live, but these days he stays stuck in meetings during lunch time even, which is very annoying, as with food ready I need to count minutes when he will come and we'll have lunch together. This is another day when I am waiting for him on lunch while he is engaged in meetings. As I am waiting for him, I think of utilizing the time by posting the recipe of something I recently made over dinner.

This recipe of Omelet Tortilla Wrap is quite flexible and versatile. You may prepare the omelet using anything you like, beans, carrots, bacon, ham or the way I have the ingredients tossed together. Essentially, everything depends on your imagination, so work your culinary instinct into practice. I had some leftover from the filling of Turkey Guacamole Wrap which I made few days back and I used the remnant of the filling in adding a variety to the omelet. Voila! It came out really lip-smacking.

For more such recipes, click the links below:

Chicken Wrap Salsa

Kolkata Egg Roll

Egg Mutton Roll

Falafel Wrap

 

 

Chamatkari Kaju Egg Curry

There is a picturesque Maumee Bay State Park overlooking the Lake Erie, a hotspot for tourists seeking for a gateway into an idyllic cove. Hardly 20 minutes distance from our place we visit the place quite often to spend some time in the serenity of nature near the shoreline. After few weeks of frequent snow falling, the lake is now completely frozen with big chunks of solid and slippery blocks of ice sticking out like giant shards of glass from the surface. The monstrosity of the expanse of the Lake Erie is quite forbidding but mesmerizing nevertheless. Many a time I felt the strong urge to climb down on to the lake and click few snaps standing upon the frozen surface but not sure of how much solidified the ice was to carry my weight I dropped the idea, the last thing I wanted ever to slip into a pool of frigid water and die from hypothermia. However, I would like to post some beautiful shots of Lake Erie as captured by hubby for your view:
 

 

 

Chamatkari Kaju Egg Curry as the name coined by my husband refers to an egg curry concocted with cashew nuts adding the base flavour. I love the subtle creaminess and a hint of sweetness a variegated combo of different taste boosting ingredients has incorporated in the dish. It goes awesome with Egg Prawn Fried Rice.
 

Egg Cauliflower Curry

Sometimes in life you meet a host of complicated people filling your life with complications leaving you to wonder the implication of their actions and words which are way apart from each other. You feel confused, not sure of how to measure the wavering idiosyncrasies in their behaviour, which confuse you to no end. Quite complex, isn't it? "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L James is centred round the character of Mr. Christian Grey, complex as ever whose mood shifts from 90° to 360° within seconds making his girlfriend confused as ever about what he wants and what he doesn't. I am now into the first sequel of this book "Fifty Shades Darker" and wondering what would have happened had I been up face to face with such a troubled soul whose dichotomies and contradicting behaviour would have tossed all my rationales aside. Puzzle is interesting when your life is not revolved round it.

About the book, the story was really interesting when I was reading the first part "Fifty Shades of Grey", but then the banal repetition of the same course of events has left me quite weary practically. So I am taking a bit time off from the book to post this fascinating recipe of egg curry cooked with cauliflower. To be frank, it is a very simple recipe, not very post worthy. I have used cauliflower only in vegetables, but you may toss some green peas, mushroom, sweet corns and carrots if you want.

 

Peyazkoli Diye Dim

 

I love peyazkoli, it has a certain taste enhancement quality. The scent of fresh peyazkoli is so

invigorating.  These days I am adding it to almost any dish possible, the reason being the easy

availability of fresh peyazkolis in bountiful across the market. The spring onions that are available

round the year are not as sweet-smelling as the ones of winter, smelling of pristine morning dews.

Their freshness infuses life into a dish, lending a beautiful crispness bursting with flavours.
 

 

Spinach Potato Omelette

Height of irresponsibility when a couple you invited over dinner didn't show up on the pretext that

 the two had a fight. I cooked a meal for four people in large quantity and now there is so much an

 excess of chicken that I had given some to my next door neighbour in a bid to finish them off.

 Yesterday was Sunday, instead of relaxing, me and my hubby were at cooking throughout the

afternoon until when our cooking was almost complete, my hubby received a call from the guy

enquiring if there was any problem if he couldn't come. The reason he explained a day later i.e.

 today that he had a tiff with his spouse because of which they didn't come. So silly, seriously! I

swear from the next time on I won't entertain such people in my house. I am so pissed off. 

It happened many a time while in Bangalore that me and hubby had a brawl over some trivial issue

 the day we were invited over someone's place, but we always sorted our differences sooner so as to

keep the invitation, after all there was a third party involved, who painstakingly might have made

all the arrangements of a meal for our sake and because of our personal issues, we cannot spoil a

party for everyone else. But there are some who have absolutely no regard for your efforts.

Anyway, let’s not mull over this for long else my level of irritation at the whole thing will only

increase instead of dying down. Spinach Potato Omelette is a frittata of sort cooked with herbs and

vegetables. If you like you may toss shredded chunks of braised chicken into the omelette to add a

meaty flavour. 

Egg Korma

Is there anyone of you following Big Boss: Season 6? This season of Big Boss has been the most happening one, Imam Siddiqui being one of the most entertaining guests in the show. I simply love the way he gets on the nerve of all the other inmates through his antics and nuisance. I don't like to imagine though how I would have dealt with if I ever come face to face with a persona like him, perhaps would have torn my hair out in frustration. This year Big Boss house resembles the environment of corporates in a way that everyone is friendly with everyone, but no one is your friend. In fact, I doubt how firm is the friendship between the trio - Delnaz, Ashiqua and Sana, only time will testify.

Coming back to the recipe, this is one of my favourite egg recipes. I cook it quite frequently, precisely because my hubby loves the yogurt infused sweetness of the gravy. It's singularly awesome in taste.

Egg Kosha

 

We were to attend the Durga Puja held by the Bengali Association 2 and half hours driving distance away in Columbus this weekend, but at the last moment some urgent errand tied up my hubby in office which led to our missing the occasion we were making plans of for weeks. I was all morose on Saturday when my hubby went to office and I was spending the time alone at home. This is one of the worst Saptamis I have spent, next to the one that I spent slogging in office till 7 p.m and then getting stuck amid torrential downpour attired in saree 2 years back in Bangalore. That was, by far, the worst day I had experienced during a pujo. 

 

 

In view of cooking as a fruitful way to keep out the blues, I invited couple of my friends over for dinner to busy myself cooking instead of sulking and glooming at home. The recipe below I have noted down from a Bengali cookery show and tried for the first time on Saturday; it turned out to be really yummilicious. The thick gravy infused with all the aromatic spices and color besides making the curry look tempting offers an awesome treat to be relished with paratha, luchi or puri.

Egg Drop Curry

For some time I have been planning to post the recipe of this egg curry, but incidentally either I was too busy to capture snaps or the snaps came too horrid to make a favorable impression on the readers that I withheld each time. Finally, last Sunday when I made this curry again, I wishing to click some nice, at least, presentable snaps under the daylight prettily organized the bowl containing the egg curry on our dining table nearby the window, but just when I was readying myself to take snaps, the Sun hid behind a puff of cloud without meaning to show up again, and my hopes were dashed when upon waiting for half an hour, it started raining. My enthusiasm ebbed away, I dropped the plan of taking any picture at all busying myself in serving lunch when my husband stepped forward managing to click some shots of the egg curry which although was somewhat dimmed by the absence of sufficient amount of light turned out to be decent enough for posting.

 

 

I promise I would post some good snaps of the curry when I will prepare it next time. Two words of caution I would like you to note down before attempting the curry -

1. Don't stir after the eggs are dropped into the curry.

2. Break the eggs gently into the curry without upsetting the yolks. It will lose its essence then. 

Egg Keema

Yesterday was Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of an elephant headed idol so adoringly worshipped in greater parts of India. The name "Ganesh Chaturthi" rings the same spell for Maharasthrians as Durga Puja does to Bengalis. Throughout Maharasthra, in the sanctum of one's home or the pompously decorated outdoor pandals, prayers are offered to the deity. It's a huge festival lasting up to ten days that brings people from all corners of India closer, irrespective of religion, creed and caste. Muslims take active participation in arranging the puja, same way as we have witnessed pujos taking place in some Muslim predominated areas in Kolkata.
 

In celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi, one of my hubby's colleagues who is a Marathi by origin held a small pujo in his home giving foodies like us a momentous opportunity to dig in with pleasure. Of the many delicacies, the sweet dish called 'modak' struck my taste bud precisely, reminding me of puli pithes with coconut stuffing inside soaked in milk that is very popular in Bengal. Through the discussion on Ganesh Festival, many a thing that was hitherto unknown to me came to my knowledge, making my heart yearn for actively partaking in the jubilation and excitement involving the festivity. I have seen visuals of the celebration being covered in news channels over the house of Bollywood celebrities celebrating the occasion in the most grandiose way possible, but have never witnessed the fervour myself.

My Mumbai and Pune stay were so short that I never got to spend a day of Ganesh Chaturthi there. I swear once I return to my country, I would definitely like to take a trip down to Maharashtra to see the madness through my eyes.

 

About the dish, keema is basically a dish cooked with minced meat. Since the following egg curry is concocted in a similar fashion of a keema curry, the dish has become popularly known as egg keema. For my own convenience I have finely chopped the eggs instead of grating as eggs sometimes crumble haphazardly under pressure of a grater.

Egg Prawn Mini Omelettes

This is an interesting Egg Prawn Mini Omelette recipe I picked up from a Bengali magazine. Undoubtedly, it is one of my favourite omelettes now. I like these omelettes especially in breakfast served with a toast. When guests are invited, I keep the egg-prawn mixture ready in advance so while the guests ensconce themselves comfortably at our home, I quickly prepare the omelettes and serve with tea. I just love the bewildered expression on their faces after they discover prawns in the omelettes.

Kolhapuri Egg Masala

Over the last one week, me and my hubby have been spending a considerable amount of time covering the seasons of The Tudors on Netflix. Must I say, it's an amazing watch and quite addictive too. The story about Henry VIII and his realm are so rife with atrocities, decapitation and adulteries that you never have a moment of dullness. Though my husband says that the actual Henry VIII was more forbidding in disposition than the one portrayed in the serial, I find the portrayal no short of brutalities. Imagine what the actual Henry would have been!! It's interesting to know that during his reign some 72,000 people were sentenced to death.

 

 

As regards the recipe, the credit of it goes to my new Marathi friend who painstakingly makes effort to pamper me with Maharashtrian delicacies and I keep noting them down to share them here.

For more recipes on eggs, please click the links below:

Egg Kosha
Egg Sandwich
Egg Drop Curry
Mexican Egg
Egg Devil Curry
 

Egg Pulusu

Egg Pulusu is an archetypal Andhra cuisine with tamarind pulp and an assortment of exquisite Indian spices cooked together. I adapted the recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor. Though I have kept the ingredients more or less similar to what he has used, but I slightly twisted the preparation according to my taste bud.

Egg Butter Masala

My mother in law when she visited our house for the first time to see her future daughter in law i.e. me enquired of my favourite food and my immediate response was "Egg". Frankly, egg is my all-time favourite food and I love experimenting with its preparation.

I slightly twisted the below Egg Butter Masala recipe, originally showcased in a Bengali cookery show, to suit my own taste bud. The outcome I came up with was brilliant. A must have for all egg lovers.

Dimer Dhokar Dalna

Dimer Dhokar Dalna is another variation of Egg Cake Curry. If you have enjoyed 'Egg Cake Curry', I am sure this one too will win your heart. Since I don't have any steamer, I choose to cook the eggs in oven. If you have steamer, you may cook the eggs in a steamer for 20 minutes. Or you may go for another option - pressure-cooking. Put the egg potato mixture inside a closed tiffin box and place that in a pressure cooker. Empty a glass of water into the pressure cooker so that the water sliding around the tiffin box helps in building steams to cook the egg.

Mexican Egg

The following is a fine Mexican Egg also known as Fricassee. Ideal on breakfast table, this fulsome egg is easy to be made, less time-taking and tastes heavenly with cheese melting in your mouth. I have used mozzarella in my preparation, but there is no hard and fast rule of mozzarella to be used only. You may substitute mozzarella with any other cheese of your choice, like parmesan or feta cheese.

Same goes for parsley also. If you prefer cilantro or coriander leaves over parsley, then don’t be hesitant in using that for topping.

Dim Jhal Posto - Hot Egg Poppy Curry

Just few days back my hubby came back home running from office with good news that at long last finally he had managed to get the full video of 'Bhuter Bhobishyot' online on You Tube. That night I finished cooking early and had dinner quick before time. Just when we sat to watch the movie in full enthusiasm, BANG, the movie is gone. Gone means it's removed, totally wiped out from You Tube video collection. Alas, with that went our only chance of watching the movie sitting here some thousands miles away from our country, down the drain. Aw man, I don't know when the movie will come printed in DVD and even it comes whether that will be available in US.

For people not sharing my mother tongue, let me inform that 'Bhooter Bhobishyot' is a super hit Bengali movie. The rave reviews of the movie from those who have watched it has bred a desire in me to watch it too.

Back to the recipe, 'Dim' in Bengali means Egg, 'Jhal' in Bengali means hot, 'Posto' means 'Poppy' and hence the name 'Dim Jhal Posto'. If you are contemplating to cook something different with eggs yet suitable to accompany rice or chapati, this is an ideal deal for you. While cooking this egg curry today, I was missing my mother a lot. Hence I dedicate the recipe to my mother.