Eggs in Tomato Gravy : Kashmiri Style

When I was staying in Hostel with friends, I had a Kashmiri roomie with me. She did not know any type of cooking. Nothing, not even tea. I was the one doing all the cooking and stuff and she used to do the dishes for both of us. It worked that ways. But since, I was and am a pure vegetarian, she could never taste the non-veg dishes at home, specially not the authentic Kashmiri ones. One day, suddenly she gasped and cried for her own cuisine and we started search all across New Delhi for authentic Kashmiri food. Unfortunately, there was none in our vicinity. To prove her continuous bragging about the richness of her cuisine, she tried to make a dish for me. Replacing chicken with egg in that recipe. She took help from her Mom over phone and created something even she was not aware of. :)

But the end result was amazing. I had never tasted this kind of egg curry in my life. Yes, it was sort of egg curry, but a very different yet simple one. Since then we used to have this almost every fortnight, off course I did the dishes for those days :D

I am still not sure whether this is the authentic Kashmiri recipe or not. But am giving this a benefit of doubt since her Mom dictated her how to cook it. She used to have it with rice ( Oh Gosh ! she even ate dry Okra subzi with rice ), but I love it with Naan or plain chapathi.

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg Tomatoes, chopped medium size
2. 5- 6 eggs
3. 1 tbsp Mustard oil
4. 1 tsp Cumin seeds, salt, turmeric, Garam Masaala, Black pepper each
5. 1 ½ tsp red chilli powder
6. 2-3 green chillies, chopped small
7. 7-8 garlic pods, crushed and minced

Method:

1. Hard boil the eggs with a pinch of salt in the water. Salt prevents the eggs from cracking and make them easy to peel off.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and splutter.
3. Add all tomatoes and green chillies. Cook covered on a medium flame for about 7-8 minutes.
4. By this time the eggs would have been boiled properly. Take them out, peel them and poke them with a fork several times. Be careful not to break the egg apart, just poke it. Keep aside.
5. Add garlic and spices to the tomato mixture. Combine well and keep cooking covered for another 4-5 minutes.
6. Now, add eggs into the sauce and fold them good. The sauce should go inside them.
7. Cook for another 12-15 min, folding eggs 3-4 times in between. Finally the sauce will be thick and rich and NOT runny.
8. Turn off the flame and keep the dish covered for 5 min before serving. Eggs should absorb all the spices very well.
9. Garnish with black pepper and Garam Masala.

Notes:

1. This recipe is supposed to be hot in taste. Please be generous with Red chili powder, as eggs absorb a lot of hotness.

2. Before serving keep the eggs in gravy for atleast half hour to let eggs absorb flavours well. 

Goes to Radhika's Unique Event : Hibernative food 

Reposting to Archana : Lets Go back to Roots
Ramya's Egg Recipes