Egg Malai Curry is a modified version of Prawn Malai Curry . "Malai Curry" is a very common word used in Bengali Household. As the name suggests the base of the gravy is Coconut milk. Malai Curry could be vegetarian as well as a non vegetarian dish. Like when it is made with Chicken, Prawn or Egg it becomes non veg curry and when made with Paneer(Cottage Cheese), Cauliflower it becomes veg Malai Curry ! We include eggs in our daily diet, be it an omelette for the breakfast or half boiled egg or Egg Kosha for the main course. Egg when combined with coconut milk, it takes it to another level !
In this recipe I have slightly taken a clue from my Prawn Malai Curry and created a new dish which has a similar smooth texture and addition of Birista brings out a lot of flavour to this creamy gravy. To make this Egg Malai curry, initially we fry together onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic-chili paste along with cashew-muskmelon seeds. Let the mixture cool and grind to a fine paste. Adding coconut milk at the end and reducing it to half make the gravy so rich and creamy. Finally add some Birista over this creamy Malai Curry.
The key for crispy fried onions is to slice them as thin as possible. Do make sure that oil in which you are going to fry onions is piping hot, the moment you slide the chopped onions, it should sizzle. I divide it in batches so that all the onions are submerged in oil. Keep an eye on the pan, stir in between and once the onion turns into light golden you would notice how quickly it will turns into dark golden now.
Ingredients:
3 Eggs
1 Onion, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp Garlic paste
1 tbsp chopped Ginger
1 tsp Cumin seeds
8-9 Cashews
1 tbsp Muskmelon seeds (Kharbooje ke beej)
1 small Tomato
1 tbsp +2 tbsp Oil
2 tsp Dry Fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi)
{2 green Cardamoms + 1/2 inch Cinnamon +1 black Cardamom} roughly pounded
1/4 tsp Red Chili powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 cup Water
200 ml Coconut milk
Salt to taste
Method:
Boil eggs with a pinch of salt, cool and peel the outer skin.
Dip the cashews and muskmelon seeds in hot water for 15-20 minutes. Then make a fine paste in a grinder and keep aside.
Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan on low flame and add cumin seeds, let these sizzle in oil. Add onions and saute it for 2 minutes. When it turns into light pink add ginger and garlic. Mix well and again stir fry for a minute.
Add cashew-muskmelon paste and fry till it leaves oil from the sides of the pan. finally add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Allow it to cool down to room-temperature. Then grind to a fine paste.
Add 2 tbsp oil in the same pan and add kasoori methi, and fry for few seconds. Add the above onion-cashew paste and mix well with the kasoori methi. Add coriander powder, turmeric, chilli powder, pounded garam masala, salt and stir well.
Cook till it separates oil from the sides of the pan. Slowly pour in the coconut milk, add eggs, cover and simmer this till the coconut milk starts getting creamy and thick. Turn off the heat and keep covered until ready to serve with rice of your choice.
