Passport & Plate - Egg Curry
Ingredients
Eggs - 1 dozen
Tomatoes – 1 dozen (ripe and red!)
Red onion – 1 large
Vegetable oil - 6 tbsp
Garlic – 5 large cloves
Ginger – the size of your thumb
Water - 5 cups
Cumin – 2 tbsp
Garam masala – 2 tbsp
Chilli powder – 2 tbsp
Tumeric – 1 tbsp
Salt – 2 tbsp
Green chili – 2 to 5
Green onions – 5 stems
How to prepare this recipePrep:
1) Boil the eggs
2) Slice the onions
3) Shell and crush garlic and ginger
4) Slit the green chilies
5) Chop the green onions
Instructions:
1) Heat pan on high flame with 2 tbsp of oil, throw the tomatoes in whole. Cover with lid, lower flame to medium.
2) Heat pot on high flame with 2 tbsp of oil, throw the cumin in. Once that’s browned deeper, add the sliced onions. Lower flame to medium.
3) Once the onions have softened a little, put in the turmeric and salt.
4) When this has dried a little, put in the boiled eggs to make the edges crispier.
5) Reduce flame to minimum.
6) About this time your tomatoes should have softened considerably. (You should be able to puree it just by shoving it to the corner with a fork.)
7) Either use the hammer or mixer to mash it all up. Then, set aside.
8) Add the tomato puree to the pan with the crisp eggs and onions mix. Turn up the flame.
9) Add in the chilli powder, garam masala, and salt.
10) Once the thick mix bubbles pour in 3 cups of water. Once the soup bubbles, add the green chilies.
11) Will cook in about 10 minutes (remember the eggs have already been boiled).
12) Throw chopped green onions on top once ready, and serve with plain white rice!
The story behind this recipeMy journalist boyfriend and I played geographic tag for the first three years of our relationships (read: long distance) until I followed him to Afghanistan in 2012. In Kabul, we would meet in the “expat-friendly” restaurants protected by armed guards. They served decent meals, but eating the same old same old lost its appeal within months. Neither of us knew how to cook, and we really missed home food.
So, on my first trip to Nepal I brought back dozens of spices, a muktu (to steam Nepali dumplings), and a siloutu (pestle and mortar to crush garlic and ginger). Fully equipped we spent our free time in the kitchen. Before the year was over we learned the spices were readily available in Kabul markets, and soon enough the two of us could prepare a full meal to feed two (or ten!).
Unlike most internationals in the city, the two of us are not westerners. This was quickly apparent in the meals we served. Void of pastas, steaks, and salads we heaped plates with rice, daal, chicken curry, vegetable curry, and what soon became our most popular dish, the egg curry.
We never ate egg curries in my house. My vegetarian boyfriend grew up on it. So, it’s really his family’s recipe and his dish, but ask folks in Kabul and no one would think it wasn’t “ours.” We’ve cooked it in the compound of diplomats who weren’t allowed to visit NGO guest houses. We’ve put it in Tupperware for friends who were sick and unable to get around. And, we’ve hosted a great many dinner parties where the dish is devoured by vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. It’s spicy, yes, but you eat it with plain white rice so that always helps. It’s full of flavor. And, it’s soupy, the perfect temperature and consistency for the long winter nights without central heating and often without electricity. It’s nothing fancy, but it is delicious while requiring just the basics.
We cook it on a weekly basis, and it has sustained us here these past three years, so yes, it’s a pretty special dish.
