Egg Masala - Instant Dinner Delight

Egg Masala / Muttai Thokku - Instant Dinner Delight

Most of the time, it is not the recipe which makes it special, it is the memories the dish carries with it makes it special and a gets the best place in our heart. This is one such recipe..

I remember the days of my childhood when my mom makes this muttai thokku for dinner. It is an instant and fresh dish for dinner in our house.
I also remember many nights when there was no power in our house, mom used to make this egg masala and hot white-rice. We used to sit down on floor and have dinner in candle light. All the items being piping hot, we used to blow and eat. And mosquito bites - never bothered.

It is a dish with few ingredients, yet has tons of beautiful memories to be cherished. 

Nothing much, when my mom tempers and sautes the onion and tomato for this thokku, we used to feel more hungry and can't wait for mom to call us for dinner. 

The best part of this dish is that, after transferring the masala into another bowl, my mom used to add some plain rice to the kadai and stir it up. We used to die for this rice. Those days, our moms used to cook with all basic ingredients, and yet it used to be very tasty.. may be the taste and success of the dish was not in the ingredients.. but was in our innocent, worry less hearts and in moms' loving hands which serves it.

Any beginner can try this. Keep it light and keep it simple. Lets go to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Egg - 4 nos.
• Onion - 2 medium
• Tomato - 2 large
• Chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder - 1 and 1/2 teaspoon
• Sugar/Jaggery - 3/4 teaspoon
• Salt - as required
• Water - 2 cups

For tempering:

• Oil - 2 tablespoons
• Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1pinch
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Garlic - 4 cloves (crushed)

Procedure:

Egg prep:

• Take the eggs in a container and fill water till it is just 1 inch above the eggs.
• Keep it on stove on medium heat.
• Let it come to boil.
• Once it has started to boil very well, turn off the stove and cover immediately.
• Leave it undisturbed for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Then, remove the eggs form that water in which it boiled and transfer to cold water.
• Remove the shell.
• Make a slit of 1 inch on the narrow end of the boiled egg to let the masala to pass through it.
• The eggs are ready to be dumped in the masala.

Boiling the eggs this way, keeps the yolk of the boiled egg nice, yellow and even. If you boil it longer, the yolk will get a grey outer colour which is the sign of over-cooking.

Masala making:

• Heat some oil in an iron wok and temper with the ingredients given in the tempering list.
• This is followed by onions. Saute till the onions turn transparent and light brown.
• Add tomatoes and continue stirring.
• Once the oil separates, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt.
• Add sugar or jaggery for some subtle sweetness.
• Saute well and then add 2 cups of water.
• Let gravy boil for 5 minutes.
• Now add the boiled eggs to this masala and let it to boil to thicken further to your required consistency.

This egg masala or muttai thokku goes very well with hot white-rice or as side dish for keerai kozhumbu or sambar rice or rasam rice. It is a good combo for chapathi too.

Happy cooking !!