Taste & Create: Masala Egg Curry

I decided to participate in Taste & Create this month. Taste & Create is a blogging event/exchange/sharing/roundup thingy run by Nicole from For the Love of Food. Basically, she pairs food bloggers up, and we have to make a dish from each others' blogs. For July, I was paired up with Pavani of Cook's Hideout. Yay! Indian food! She opted to try out the Penne with roasted tomatoes I made back in March. She seemed to really like it! She used garbonzos instead of white beans, which is pretty darn brill...I'm gonna have to try that next time.

When it came to picking a recipe from Cook's Hideout, I had quite a selection. I had aspirations of making exotic Indian breads and chutneys and curries. I took too long deciding, in the end, and I am a few days late with this. Since I was such a slacker, I went with a dish that was simple and didn't require an extra trip to an Indian grocery store. Masala Egg Curry! Don't get me wrong, just because this was simple to make and shop for, doesn't mean it wasn't good. I really really liked this. The flavors were really green and fresh and spicy...great for this hot hot hot week in July.


I had to veer from Pavani's recipe a bit. For one, I used Jalepenos (no salmonella, phew!) instead of her green chiles. I'm not sure the difference, actually. I only used 5, as opposed to the 6-7 green chiles in the recipe. I was afraid my head would catch fire if I used 6 or 7 jalepenos. I also used ground cinnamon instead of a stick, and, since my dang store was out of fresh mint, I had to use a jarred mint chutney. Luckily, the ingredients in the chutney were similar to the flavors used in this dish, so it worked out for the best. Here is Pavani's recipe as altered by me:

Masala Egg Curry

Ingredients:
Mint chutney - about 2 Tablespoons
Eggs – 5, boiled
Red Chili powder – ½ tsp
Lemon - 1
salt

For the Masala:
Onion – 1 large, roughly chopped
Garlic – 6-7 cloves
Jalepenos – 5-6
Pepper - 1tsp
Cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon
Almonds - 2 tbsp
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves – ½ cup


Method:
•Grind masala with little water to a smooth paste in food processor.

•Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan, add the masala and fry till it turns lightly brown and does not smell raw anymore, about 12-15 minutes. Add the mint chutney at some point during this process...I added it about 10 minutes into the frying.

•Add about 1cup water and salt to the gravy and let it come to a slow simmer (add more or less water depending on the consistency of the curry). Slide in the eggs along with salt and red chili powder. Simmer on low flame for another 7-8 minutes. Squeeze juice of 1 lemon and serve with rice and plain low-fat yogurt.

So, my first Taste & Create experience was a success! (If you don't count my tardiness...)

Thanks to Nicole for organizing such a fun event, and thanks to Pavani for having such wonderful taste!