EGGs

Eggs are a complete meal in themselves.; They are affordable and easy to cook. I gathered from my friends and what I read that eggs can be cooked as follows:

• Coddled egg
• Fried egg
• Boiled egg
• Omelet
• Poached egg
• Scrambled eggs
• Baked or Shirred egg
  

Coddled eggs are the eggs that are lightly and gently cooked in water just below the boiling point.  The egg is either cooked in its shell by immersing it  in hot water in a pan or pouring the boiling water on it and let it stand for ten minutes or so. Egg coddlers are available for this purpose which make it easy to cook..

A fried egg is an egg is one which is fried in oil, butter or any other such agent.The eggs are not beaten but allowed to retain the white and yolk as it is. "Over hard" or "hard"  are the ones cooked on both sides until the yolk solidifies, "Over medium" are cooked on both sides until the yolk is thick but still in  a liquid state. "Over easy" or "runny"-"dippy eggs" or "dip eggs".or "treasure eggs" are  cooked on both sides but yolk is in  liquid state. This is also known as  "sunny side down". Sunny side up" -are cooked only on one side-yolk remains uncooked.

Boiled eggs are cooked by immersing in boiling water with their shells. Hard-boiled eggs are where the entire egg is cooked - yolk and the egg white are solidified, whereas Soft-boiled eggs the yolk and sometimes the white too remains in a semi solid state..

Omelet is a mixture of eggs beaten along with water or milk and fried in butter until firm and topped with various fillings of veg and non veg like onions, tomatoes, capsicum, cheese, ham, mushrooms, sausage and a seasoning of herbs and spices.

Poached eggs are ones that have been cooked in very hot but not boiling water, until the egg white has mostly congealed, but the yolk remain soft. A small amount of white vinegar may be added to the water to keep the egg white from spreading out. As no oil is used, calories wise this may be more healthier.

Scrambled eggs are made from beaten whites and yolk along with  cream, butter, oil and milk or water.

Shirred eggs are also known as baked eggs in which the eggs are cooked in a dish with a knob of butter or cream and baked until the white is set, but the yolk remains soft,

Here are some dishes from my collection.They are the Indianised version. But alas I don't have visuals to match since I don't eat them.

STEAMED EGGS

Ingredients:

Egg       one

Onion chopped finely  25-50 gms

Green chili chopped finely   one

Coriander greens  chopped finely   1Tbsp

Oil  1/2 tsp

Turmeric  a pinch

Salt  to taste

Method

• Break the egg into a bowl, add chopped onion, green chili, turmeric, salt and coriander greens. Mix well
•  Grease a cup(stainless steel) with oil. Pour the egg mixture into it.
• Take a bigger vessel pour some water in it, bring it to boil. Now carefully float the cup containing the egg mixture in it. Cover the cup with a plate and cook for ten minutes or so.
• When the mixture solidifies, remove from the vessel and serve hot.
• Your steamed egg is ready.

FRIED EGG

Ingredients:

Eggs     2

Oil  25 gms

Black pepper powder a pinch

Salt  to taste

Method

• Heat a pan. Add oil.
• Now hold the egg above the pan, and crack with a knife or a spoon. Hold the egg with both hands and carefully pour the mixture on it with out damaging the yolk. 
• When the white of the egg is cooked, sprinkle salt and pepper powder and serve. The yolk remains uncooked this way
  
• Those who don't like this can turn it and fry the other side before sprinkling with salt and pepper and serving.This goes well with buttered toast.

POACHED EGGS

Ingredients:

Egg   One

Vinegar 2 tsps

Salt  to taste

Method

•  Pour three glasses of water in a pan, add salt and vinegar and bring it to boil. When the water begins to boil, reduce the heat.
• Now just crack the egg and carefully put in to the water. See that the white of the egg does not spill in to the water.
• After the egg is done, remove the shell, sprinkle pepper powder, salt and serve.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

Ingredients:

Egg   One

Onions chopped finely   25 - 50gms

Black pepper powder    a pinch

Milk   1/2 cup

Butter   25 gms

Bread slices   2

Salt  to taste

Method

•  Heat a pan. Toast the bread slices on both sides using a little of the  butter and keep aside. in a plate.
• Now in the same pan add the remaining butter and let it melt.
• Meanwhile in a bowl break open the egg. Add salt pepper powder and milk. Whisk them well and pour it onto the pan.
• This mixture thickens almost immediately. Turn down the heat and keep on stirring the mixture. Remove from heat when they are just yet to be done and keep on stirring.
• Pour it over the slices and serve hot with tomato sauce.
  

Hope you have like them. Please let me know your comments and suggestions....

PONGALI

Pongali as is known in Telugu language is known as Khhichdi in North India. This is one of the dishes which is made universally throughout India. The basic dish is same all over India and is made in the same manner. There may be variations in some of the ingredients which differ from  from place to place or from house hold to household. People do add their own ingredients thereby giving a personalised touch and also a distinct flavor.

Any way the basic ingredients are Rice, Green gram (split and de-husked), Ghee(clarified butter). Other ingredients may differ. This packs quite some nutrition, easy to make and easily digestible as well as cheaper cost wise, as the ingredients are simple. So this was considered to be a poor mans' boon. Infants, old and those convalescing from long term diseases are fed this to get the required strength.

I am sharing with you the simplest or the basic recipe made in South Indian way. Later on I will post the variations too. So here itt is.

Ingredients :

Rice     1 cup

Green gram (split and dehusked)   1/2 cup

Green chillies slit length wise or chopped - 2 to 3

Curry leaves  2 sprigs (separate the leaves from the stems)

Coriander greens  chopped fine 1 tbsp

Pepper corns  1tsp

Ghee 1 to 2 tbsp

salt to taste

Sugar  or Jaggery 2 tsp (optional)

For seasoning:

Chickpea:     2 tsp

Black gram:  2tsp

Fenugreek seeds:   1/4 tsp (optional)

Mustard seeds:   1 tsp

Cumin:   2 tsp

Dried Red chillies 1 (broken into pieces )

Turmeric powder  1/4 tsp
Asafoetida   1/4 tsp i.e 1gm

Method:

1. Wash rice thoroughly in water and keep aside.
2. Roast the green gram lentil on slow fire till it turns golden brown in colour and gives off a fragrance.
3. Crush the peppercorns slightly.  But if you dont like it very spicy use them un crushed.
   
4. Now in a deep pan or better a cooker, heat ghee.
5. Add peanuts and cashew nuts fry for a minute or two.
6. Now add the chickpea and black gram fry for a minute.
7. Add the Fenugreek and mustard seeds, pepper corns and fry for two minutes until the mustard seeds start crackling
8. Add cumin, red chillies and green chillies along with curry leaves. Add turmeric powder and asafoetida powder. Mix well
9. Add 3-4 cups of water and bring it to a boil
   
10. Add the roasted lentil cover and cook for ten to fifteen minutes on low heat.
11. Now add the rice, salt cover and cook for another fifteen to twenty  minutes on sim fire till done . In between just check up whether there is enough water. If not add more.
    
12. I dont keep the whistle on cooker as sometimes the water content may not be enough. So its easy to check in between.
13. Once cooked it must be almost like a stew or semi solid and the rice and lentil should be well cooked and mashed.
14. Serve topped with melted Ghee and garnished with coriander greens.
15. This can be served with fresh coconut or peanut or tomato chutney fried or roasted papad, pickles curries and curds. Just check my recipes on Chutneys.

I have used only peanuts to make it more nutritious and this does not look yellow at all since I have used just a pinch of turmeric.

NOTE:

• This dish is a meal in itself.
  
• Green gram is a lentil. When it is split  and de husked it looks light yellow in colour.
  
• The ratio of rice to lentil is 1:1/2. But thi can be varied to suit your taste-that is you can have  less of lentil.
• This is a bit spicy and goes well for Indian tastes. I would make it more spicy by adding more green chillies if you like it hot. But those from other countries who dont eat so spicy, please decrease the amount of green chillies and pepper corns.
• Adding sugar or Jaggery (I prefer this) balances all the tastes-that is salt and spicy well and blends them in. The quantity of sweetener can also be slightly increased to avoid the spiciness. Some
  
• To make it more nutritious and tasty add 1-2 Tbsp Peanuts or Cashew nuts or both. They can be fried in the ghee at the beginning itself. But you can fry them separately and pour over the Pongal just before serving. This way it would be crunchy. 
• I have suggested low quantity of Ghee. Traditionally more quantity of Ghee is used. It almost drips of Ghee. That way it is quite tasty and gives more energy-but mind you MORE calories as well.
• Fenugreek seeds helps in reducing gasses especially when one is using the lentils in a dish and also add flavour. But it is optional
• This is a popular dish with  infants and children. AVOID CHILLIES n PEPPER  or decrease the quantity of spices if serving them or old and convalescing.
  

CURRY LEAVES

Some one asked what Curry leaves are?

Curry leaves:

Curry leaves are very popular in India, especially in South India. Every household has at least one tree. We are so used to its taste that even when living in flats, at least one tree is grown in a pot. Its a bit difficult to grow these plants at first. But once they survive, they are very hardy and easy to maintain. Many small plants come up from the roots and from the seeds of the fruit and after sometime, its difficult to get rid of these stubborn plants. You have them growing everywhere.

This is a small plant either germinated from the seed or from root of a big tree. 

 

This is the canopy of the grown tree. The tree is medium sized but has a dense canopy and needs prunning after the fruiting. Flowers are very small and white in colour. The fruit are small and berry shaped. They are first green in colour and later on turn black and drop off. Birds are attracted to these fruit. They eat them and drop the seeds. Now these are a menace because they give way to so many plants and removing those plants has become a night mare for me. They have roots very deep into soil even though they are very small plants. 

 

This is its trunk. This has been in my garden perhaps for past ten years or so.

Curry leaves are known as Karvepaku in Telugu and Kadi Patta in Hindi. Kari means black Vepaku means Neem leaves. The Curry leaves resemble the Neem leaves and are dark green/bottle green almost black in colour. They have a very distinct flavour.  Some of the uses are:

• They are rich in calcium and vitamin A. 
• aids in good digestion
• relieves colic pain and gases
  
• improves taste buds
• helps in stopping nausea and vomiting
  
• anti viral, anti bacterial and anti fungal
• The root, bark and leaves all have medicinal properties. 
• Ten to twelve leaves if consumed on empty stomach early in the morning helps in reducing wieght and also diabetes.

They are used in seasoning. Especially down South India. Andhra cuisine is not complete without this leaf. These leaves are used fresh, dried or powdered. Chutney and curry powder is made out of these leaves.

I will share some of the recipes using these leaves shortly.