Thursday, April 17, 2014

Baked Omelette er Jhol -- Baked eggs in a curry

Baked Omlette is an oxymoron. Or so I thought. But apparently not so. Google has solved my problem.



Still "Baked Omelette er jhol" is like "shonar pathorbati" or a "gold stone bowl" and our little Miss Perfect aka BigSis noticed that out and out.

"This", she said, pointing at the all-clad stainless steel saucier plonked at the middle of the little round table in the kitchen. He fingers pointed at the gravy -- thin and runny, with half-moon slices of potatoes floating around lazily and strange UFO shaped structures nestled in between.

"This is not Omelette er Jhol", she said, her eyes squinted, her face honest.

I snapped at her. "Decide the name of the dish when you cook your own," I said.

She kept quiet and ate her lunch. "But it is good," she said.

"Not as good as the fried omlette er jhol," I sighed.



Omelette er jhol or Indian style Omlettes in a gravy, is one of my favorite egg dishes. There is something about an omelette basking in a thin curry and growing fat and pillowy, all so that you can bite into its softness and let the curry juice trickle down your throat. It makes an omlette far more sensuous than an omlette.

But then of course I cannot let sleeping dogs lie or fried omelettes fry.

So this time around, I baked them. And I did it in cup cake molds. Just like I make these egg muffins. You can of course bake them in a baking dish or even steam them in a cooker like I do for this Dim er Dhoka.



Or you can simply fry an omelette.

At the end all of them gets dunked into the jhol. Kind of like us. No matter what and how we are born, at the end we are all dunked in the jhol of life.



Thanks for all your suggestions in the last post, it helped a lot. I will be back soon, with some vacation pics and announce the winners. Until then enjoy your own Omelette er Jhol.

Omelette er Jhol -- omelettes in a curry

First take 3-4  large eggs. Or more eggs if you so wish. Let us not even go into the conundrum of which comes first "Chicken or the Egg"

Now comes the difficult part. Break the eggs in a bowl.

To it add
half an onion finely chopped
3-4 green chillies finely chopped
salt to taste
2 tbsp of milk
2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves(optional)
Beat them to a smooth mix

Now with this egg you can do any ONE of the following three. A flowchart would have helped but what the heck.

1. Make an Omelette. Heat oil in a frying pan. Pour out the egg batter on the pan and swirl till the batter is evenly distributed and let it cook. Cut the thick omlette in cubes to be dunked into the jhol

2. Pre-heat Oven to 350F. Pour this egg mix in a greased oven safe bowl because it needs to be baked. The size of the baking dish is important and make sure that the batter does not form too thin a layer. I think a 8" x 8" baking dish would be good for this many eggs. Bake for 30-35 mins until the crust starts turning golden. Take out of the oven and carefully cut in large cubes.

3. Pour out the batter in greased cup cake holders. I had six silicone cup cake liners and I used them. Bake for 30-35 mins until the crust starts turning golden.

Making the thin gravy for Omlette er Jhol. You can make a richer and thicker gravy if you so wish.

Heat 2 tbsp Oil in a Kadhai/Saucier

Temper the Oil with
2 TejPata
1 tsp of whole cumin seeds

When the seeds pop add half of a medium onion chopped fine + 2 green chillies slit along the length. Saute till onion softens

Toss in 1 potato cut in thin half moon shapes. With a sprinkle of turmeric powder, saute the potatoes until they turn golden.

Next add a chopped tomato. But since I did not have any tomatoes at hand, I added 2 tbsp of tomato ketchup.

Now add about 1/2 tsp of ginger paste. Saute for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile in a bowl add
1 tbsp yogurt
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Mirch/Red Chilli powder
pinch of turmeric powder
and mix well so that you have a smooth paste

Add this masala paste to the potatoes in the kadhai and cook at low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add about 2 cups of warm water, salt to taste and mix well. Let the gravy come to a simmer.

Cover and let the potatoes cook.

Once the potatoes are done, taste the curry and adjust for spices. You might like to add a little sugar to the jhol at this point.

Once the jhol/gravy is ready add the baked pieces of egg or the omelette  into the gravy and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. 

Serve hot with rice. If you let the egg soak in the gravy for a longer time, it will soak up all the liquid like a sponge so be careful.

21 comments:

  1. Dear Sandeepa
    Great idea , will give a try , when I call guests ....I like the spicing
    bhalo theko

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eta kintu halka jhol, for guests you might want to kick it up a bit

      Delete
  2. Ma used to make omelette jhol when we were kids, besh lagto khete. Though personally I prefer boiled eggs when it comes to dimer dalna! Just made some last night, using the bhaja moshla - pure bliss you know :) Love your curry here, will try it next time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love eggs so all kinds are great for me. With boiled eggs curry I am always in a dilemma to save the yolk for last or eat it first. This one at least solves that problem

      Delete
  3. Omlette er jhol is the only way my Baba will eat an egg in curry! So, had it a lot while growing up and loved it too. Alas, the husband will only eat eggs half-boiled, especially dislikes omlette in curry :( Now, I make it only when he is out of town :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. In the last photo, they reminded me of Monaco salt biscuits!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, a local Monaco where their production m/c has gone wrong ;-)

      Delete
  5. "It makes an omlette far more sensuous than an omlette.".--> that I totally agree Sandeepa. Good attempt and LOL at Sra's comment (Monoca biscuits) as I had the exact same thought. I will make your original Dim er Dhoka soon for our lunch or dinner. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can also make omlettes and put in the same gravy as "Dim er Dhoka"

      Delete
  6. Shuvo Nabobarsho Sandeepa. This is definitely a much better presentable upgraded version . will definitely try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes, that is a good idea right ? Bake it like mini cup cakes and then put in the gravy before serving?

      Delete
  7. Omletter jhol is very disappointing...looks horrible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah, doesn't look that great right ? But Omlette er Jhol is really good to eat if you haven't tried. My hunch is you have ;-)

      Delete
  8. That's really a neat idea Sandy!..

    ReplyDelete
  9. more information Qsindia.in ISO 22716 (GLOBAL COSMETIC PRODUCTS SAFETY)
    As globalization of market is increased, the safety of cosmetic products is very important towards manufacturers, suppliers. Various Std. came into the market on national and international level for enhance the quality and safety of cosmetic products, where they have given requirement for manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers. Recently the International Standardization Organisation (ISO) published new guidance on the safe manufacturing of cosmetic products under a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

    Several countries and regions have accepted this standard willingly,
    ISO 22716 replaced existing guidelines and standards.more infomation Quality Services & Training Pvt.Ltd.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Debadutta ChakravartiApril 22, 2014 10:11 AM

    My Maa too used to make Bhaja Omlette-er jhol when we were bored of the regular Dimer Dalna. Sometimes instead of frying the omlettes, she used to crack the eggs into small greased bowls and then sprinkled finely cut onions, tomatoes and chillies over them and steam them. After that she used them in a plain jhol. The eggs looked wonderful having taken the shape of the bowls and with the sprinklings of onions, tomatoes and chillies in them. Your recipe reminded me of those days.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey sandeepa, the cupcakes look so tasty and delicious. And i never knew you could eat those muffin with curry. Surely going to give this one a try.
    Order Cakes Online Delhi

    ReplyDelete
  12. I made omlette balls in the aebleskiver pan and planned to make a jhol like yours but my little boys ate them up :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. like your comment on "jhol of life" - LOL..

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have prepared a new dish based on your idea.I mashed two boiled potatoes and mixed one egg to it and fried the mixture in small flatten ball shapes and then prepared the curry. The complete recipe link: http://bengalifoodmania.blogspot.in/2014/04/egg-pakoda-curry.html

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your Comments. I hope you will be nice and not Spam.