Monday 28 April 2014

Eggstravaganza: Eggs and peppers in a mustard cream sauce


The other day one of my school friends came over for lunch. We had grown rather close in the last couple of years in school and have been in touch ever since, sporadically though. I met only twice in these nine years since we finished school. Nine Years? Woah! Anyway, so I was rather excited. I had promised to cook for her and I had planned out a rather extensive menu. Guess what I ended up serving just three dishes of which one doesn't count as a dish proper. No I was not lazy, only she had picked the hottest day of the year up till now at least, to visit. The kitchen was nothing less than an inferno and I was almost nauseous. So I decided a light pulao and a chicken I make was all I was making. Besides, my friend is a small eater and she had already warned me against too much to eat. I slipped in a typical mango chutney we Bengalis swear by.
     Now this particular chicken dish requires fresh cream. Not much, about two tablespoons for the quantity I was making. Half way through the dish I realised I had no cream in the fridge. So I sent one of our helps to get a pack of Amul cream. He returned an hour and a half later, panting and sweating, with no cream. I had turned off the stove and was in a panic mode by then. Now that he had returned without the cream I was hysterical. He said he had tried 7 different shops but couldn't find cream, there was apparently no supply. So there I was pacing about the dining room, stomping about actually, cursing my stars etc when my Mum said that there was perhaps one place where cream would be available. New Market. Yeah right, that place, that heaven of a market is 15 km from my place and considering the weekday traffic it wouldn't take less than an hour and a half to get cream for there, cream I would need 2 tablespoons of. But hello, we are talking about a school friend coming over for lunch here, so New Market it was.
     So Shambhu Da, God bless him, took a metro to New Market and got me the cream. But he had brought a whole litre of it. My chicken was saved but I was left with a litre of cream. Now the shopkeeper had said it could be stored for a whole month even after it was opened. My mother said, "nonsense", three days at the most or it goes to the bin. Then she turned around to add, "Better not waste it."
So now I am finding all sorts of ways to use the cream. I trumped up this dish, this evening (day 2) with no intention to share it here but it turned out great and I though I might as well  share it. Some onions, capsicum and eggs in a mustard and cream sauce. And let me tell you I was eggstatic with the result.


Ingredients 

Hard Boiled eggs - 5
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Onions - 2
Plum tomatoes (whole)-
Capsicum - 2
Chopped Parsley - 4 tbsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Cream - 175 ml
Kasundi (mustard relish) - 3 tbsp
Chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Butter - 4 tbsp



Method

Cut the onions and capsicum in rings. 

In a bowl beat the curd, cream, sugar, chili flakes and kasundi together. 

Heat butter in an pan. Add the garlic and ginger paste and fry for a minutes. Add the onion and capsicum rings and the whole tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt and stir fry for a few minutes until the capsicum and onion rings soften but retain the crunch.

Add the eggs and give a good toss. Reduce heat and add the cream and mustard mixture and add half the chopped parsley. Adjust seasoning. Let is simmer for a few minutes on low heat. 

Remove from heat, garnish with chopped parsley and serve hot...or cold.  







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