My usual evening regime starts with clearing up the mess I create when rushing to the office in the morning, while I think of what to cook for dinner.Busy cleaning and thinking, I just realised that these days am a little obsessed with the cute little spice grinder that was recently bought in Amazon. I am almost behaving like a toddler who gets a new toy. In short, I have been looking for recipes that would involve my cutie pie. Todays experiment was with eggs. Now, the usual egg curry I cook is so much so my mothers traditional style which I plan to blog later, but today’s version was tweaked so I could use my spice grinder and my other new obsession cashew nuts.  Oh! did I tell you? I picked the obsession of adding cashews to my dishes from hemu, a dearest friend of mine and I must tell you “Try them in your dishes, Trust me you are gonna love it”. It wasn’t a surprise that the curry turned to be so delicious that I left licking my fingers. The list might look pretty elaborate but if you take a good look you’ll notice that almost all of them are right there in your pantry. Here is how..

Note: To roast the cashew nuts, you can use the microwave alternate to the stove top method. In a microwave safe bowl, add the cashews and microwave in 1 minute intervals for 2-4 mts till the cashews start changing color to a golden brown. Keep an eye because microwave cooking times differ from one to the other. So please adjust your timings accordingly.

Ingredients:

3-4 Boiled Eggs

¼ tsp turmeric powder

3-4 tbsps cooking oil

2 Cloves

½ ” Cinnamon Stick

1 Elaichi

1 Star anise

½ tsp avalu (mustard seeds/rai)

1 twig of curry leaves

1 Large onion finely chopped

Salt to taste

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp ginger & garlic paste

1 large tomato – finely chopped

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp chilli powder (adjust to your spice levels)

1 cup water

1 tsp garam masala powder

Freshly chopped coriander leaves for garnish

For the Spice powder

¼ tsp cumin seeds

3 tbsps cashews

1 tsp gasagasalu (poppy seeds/khus khus)

5 – 6 curry leaves

• In a skillet, fry cashew nuts on low to medium flame till they are roasted (I do not use oil). Remove and set aside. Now roast the cumin seeds and khus khus separately and set aside. Toast the curry leaves for a few seconds and remove. Take care not to burn the spices. Allow to cool off and grind all of them to a fine powder. Set aside.
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a wide, in a kadhai/pan. On low flame, add turmeric powder, and then slowly drop in the boiled eggs. Fry them on all sides for 4-5 mts. Remove onto a plate and set aside.
• In the same vessel, add in the remaining oil, and saute cloves, cinnamon, elaichi, star anise for a few seconds on low flame. Then add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
• Throw in the curry leaves, and chopped onions. Add Salt, turmeric powder and fry till nice golden brown on medium flame (about 8-10 mts).
• Add ginger & garlic paste and fry for about 4-5 mts till the raw smell disappears.
• Add chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, cumin powder, chilli powder and combine. Cover and cook for 3-4 mts or till the tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
• Add the ground spice powder, mix well then add in a cup of water.
• Slowly add the boiled eggs and gently mix to coat the gravy. Cook on medium flame for 4-5 mts or till the desired consistency is reached.
• Just before turning off the flame, sprinkle garam masala powder, mix gently.
• Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and serve with hot rice, rotis or plain pulao.