Egg Curry in the Pakistani Manner

curry eggs2

I just got back home to Toronto, after spending a week with my family in Washington, DC. It is 6am and I am spooning coffee grinds into my moka to make a caffé latte. At this time, I know that my father is awake already and sitting in his solarium, his putty-coloured cashmere shawl covering his legs while he eats his morning porridge, adorned with a lazy trail of maple syrup and dried apricots. The BBC World Service is flashing on the television screen in the background and he is probably also checking texts and missed calls on his mobile phone. The leaves outside the solarium have turned yellow, like the colour of the imperial topaz gemstone I love so much. I’m not there today, so Baba has decided that he isn’t going to make the trek to the local coffee shop for his caffeine fix. They use Lavazza; we prefer Illy and adore Palombini, but we’re not in Rome anymore, so we’ll take Lavazza.

After finishing his porridge, Baba reaches into the woven basket for the Financial Times, takes scissors out from the lacquered box next to the Dervish figurine to his left, and snips out an article for me about falling asleep at dinner parties, by David Tang. Baba and I love David Tang’s column, because we think he is a cocky, witty bugger. David Tang writes“But such apparent bad behaviour seems to be no worse than that of so many of my dining companions who do not desist from looking at their iPhones and mobiles etc. They are effectively ruder than me with my natural inclination to fall asleep because they are fully awake.”

My Dad and I, we love this sort of humour.

Whenever Baba sees me, he hands me a folder with “cuttings”. I know that I can easily read the articles off the internet, because I subscribe to the FT, but this is a father-daughter tradition which I want to carry on forever.

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Before Baba steps out for his afternoon jog, he makes his request for dinner – an egg curry with white rice, “anday ka saalan aur saath uss ke sufaid chawal”. He never eats brown rice, but he always adds that qualifier of ‘white’ when he refers to rice. Egg curry is a simple pleasure, like the coffee at our local café.

curry eggs6

This umami-rich, caramelised tomato base pairs perfectly with creamy, soft egg yolks. You can add a few dollops of thick yoghurt to bind it all together beautifully in your plate, sort of like nursery food. I like to have mine with sangak.

Till next time…when I am in DC to make this dish for my father.

Serves 4 as a side dish. To enjoy as a main dish, double up the ingredients, (except for the the oil).

Ingredients:
*3 tbsp neutral oil of choice
*1 small or ½ a medium onion, minced
*1cm (approx ½ in) thick piece of ginger, cubed
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*½ tsp turmeric
*1 tsp cumin powder
*500ml (approx 16oz) can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
*salt to taste
*1 tsp red chili powder (or ½ tsp if you prefer it less spicy)
*250ml (1 cup) water
*3 eggs
*water for boiling eggs

Preparation:
For the eggs
*Fill pot with water and place on high heat. When the water begins to boil rapidly, turn the heat to medium-high. You want to obtain a gentle boil
*Carefully, using a slotted spoon, lower eggs into the pot
*Once all eggs are in the pot, set your timer to 10 minutes. After ten minutes, remove pot from stove and fill with cold water under the faucet in the sink
*Allow eggs to rest in the water while you make the curry base

For the curry base
*Place a large pan (I use this one, which is 30cm / 12in) on the stove on medium-high heat and add oil
*Add onions and sauté till a golden brown, this will take 5-7 minutes
*Add ginger, garlic, turmeric and cumin powder and continue to sauté for 1 minute till fragrant
*Reduce heat to medium
*Add tomatoes, salt and chilli powder, water and stir continuously, till the tomato sauce reduces and thickens. This will take approximately 10 minutes

Assemble
*Peel eggs and carefully slice each egg into half and place on top of the warm curry base.
*Garnish with your favourite fresh herb/s

Enjoy with rice, crusty bread, sangak, naan or chapati.

Comments

  1. Love the story, love the dish. Gorgeous Shayma!

  2. Love this! thanks for sharing, so nice to know that certain traditions (the coffee and the newspaper cuttings) travel across countries and cultures. My dad does exactly the same with Il Sole 24 ore. But I started doing it for him with the FT. And yes, David Tang is wonderful. Miss you!

  3. Oh Shayma, this looks and sounds SO divine! Must really try it this weekend. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful recipe. Imen xx

  4. Shayma, What a lovely rich color the salaan has!

    And such a delightful story and tradition ….enjoyed reading your post as much as I enjoyed drooling over the picture! <3

  5. First time on your blog and I am loving it! Such a beautiful father-daughter story, I enjoyed reading your posts. Gorgeous pictures and tempting recipe. I am getting hooked on your blog:)

  6. Salaam Shayma!
    Gorgeous blog! insha’Allah may you always continue to enjoy these precious and special memories with your baba!
    (I’m relocating to DC from CA, insha’Allah we can meet in future)

    Thanks for sharing!
    Xo
    Zahraa

  7. A lovely story, and such a special dish. Thank you, as always, for sharing.

  8. First time on your site and loved it
    Beautiful story and a cool recipe that I have utilized often. I would add a twist by splash frying the eggs in fragrant oil before putting them in the salaan
    Love the color of the gravy – so rich and delicious
    and hey, you from Toronto too?

  9. Wonderful post! We are linking to this great article on our site.
    Keep up the good writing.

  10. Missing my dad too! This is like the Hyderabadi tamatar cut, right?

  11. I tried this out and came out awesome..

  12. 5 stars
    Fantastic post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic?
    I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit
    more. Appreciate it!

  13. 1 star
    Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed!
    Very useful info specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such information a lot.
    I was looking for this certain information for a very long time.
    Thank you and best of luck.

Trackbacks

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