Kerala style Egg Stew

Hope you all had a fun Diwali and Halloween and now waiting for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year...well lots to look forward to :-) But this cold weather has numbed my thoughts in the blogging arena. I have tons of recipe all half-written and some posts drafted away with only pictures and I just donno when I'll ever come to posting them. I just can't think of anything to write :-) Apparently for me the easiest part is writing the recipe, atleast that's something. I will share everything all in good time, until then let's just enjoy this creamy Egg stew.

Kerala style stew made with coconut milk is best served with soft spongy Appams. We also enjoy these with Kallapam, plain white/brown Bread or even with Idiappam....ok! my mouth is watering now. Who wants to make me any of these right now...with some stew ofcourse? :-)

I've heard that many people find it difficult to make a perfect hard boiled egg. I've never faced that situation (call it luck or whatever), but my mom taught me a  technique and ever since I've never ever had failed hard-boiled eggs. They get boiled perfectly and are never over-boiled or rubbery. So let's get to the technique for making perfect hard boiled eggs and to the recipe for this awesome Egg stew.

Don't get scared seeing the list of ingredients, its not much but all this together makes the perfect stew and it's just worth it.

Egg Stew with Coconut Milk

You’ll Need

4-5 Hard boiled eggs

1 Carrot (cubed)

1 Potato (cubed)

½ cup Green Peas

1 large Onion (diced)

2 Green chillies (slit lengthwise)

1 Tblsp Ginger (grated or thinly sliced)

1 Tblsp Garlic (grated or thinly sliced)

1 Cinnamon stick

2 Green cardamom

2 Cloves

1 tsp Black peppercorns

2 dry Red Chillies (optional)

1 sprig Curry Leaves (5-8 leaves)

½ tsp Garam masala

½ tsp Corriander powder

2 cups Canned Coconut Milk

1 Tblsp Oil

Directions

How to Hard-boil Eggs

1. Fill a saucepan with cold water and immerse the eggs into the water. The water should be above the level of the eggs.

2. Keep over high flame/heat and bring the water to a boil. When the water comes to a rolling boil, turn off the heat, cover the saucepan with a lid and let the eggs rest for 10mins.

3. After 10 mins drain away the water and gently peel away the egg shell. Keep aside the Hard-boiled eggs.

To prepare Egg stew

1. Heat oil in a pan and sauté the whole spices until fragrant (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and black pepper, dry red chillies)

2. Add the curry leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillies and onions and sauté until onions are soft.

3. Add potato, carrots, green peas along with 1 cup coconut milk and cook until potato is soft.

4. Turn the heat to low and mix the spice powders (garam masala and coriander powder) with remaining 1 cup coconut milk and add it to the stew.

5. Add the boiled eggs (slit in half if preferred) to the stew and cook on low heat for 5 mins.

Serve it yumm and hot with some Appam or Kallappam or Bread!!!

Notes:

1. I like to add all these veggies when I make stew, you could just make this egg stew with just eggs and potatoes if you like, but I love the added color.

2. Do not brown the onions, just saute until soft and translucent.

I love anything that's cooked in coconut milk and curry leaves, the aroma, the flavor ....everything....yumm. Appam with Egg stew is a common breakfast dish at my home specially over weekends. The stew isn'y overly spicy yet has a lot of flavor. Even lilttle kids enjoy it and yes Lil'Appu eats it with relish! 

Anyways as we are discussing stew today, let me share, we had a Halloween Cook-Off at our office which was a potluck and competition, and I took my favorite Chicken Stew and guess what, I came second in the non-traditional food category...yaaay. Happy Dance!!

-Manju