Busy Day's Egg Masala -- with some tips

If you are a Mother, like me or you are a Father, unlike me, you will appreciate what I am going to tell you about today's egg masala. In fact even if you are not a parent you should certainly appreciate the wisdom imparted in the post.

But if you are a parent, and if you have kids,
and the kids have homework,
and piano,
and taekwondo,
maybe even swimming 
or add some bharatnatyam to the mix
and you are the one who makes sure that all of these get done
and in spite of all this you insist the kids eat a good home-cooked meal at the end of the day
you will really really appreciate a peek into my cheat sheet.

At least I did, when years ago in my noveau blogging days I had landed on the blogs which showed me how to make the "All Purpose Masala". Those had saved my life on many busy evenings. But as it happens one day you are making and freezing masalas like a maniac and then next you are not. I still make ginger-garlic paste and fried onion pastes but for a while I had not frozen these all purpose masalas.

Then when I made this egg masala a few days ago, I did it again. Only I did not have any more ice trays, so I just froze a portion enough for two curries. And did it help me on a busy Wednesday. Phewwww. I saved so much time that if I wanted I could have got a pedicure done. But of course I didn't. The pedicure I mean. Instead I read a book. The Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan being one of them and Yes Chef by Marc Samuelson the other.

So what is your cheat sheet ?

Busy Day's Egg Masala

Make the all purpose onion-tomato-ginger-garlic masala

Chop 1 red onion in chunks

Chop 1 tomato in chunks

Peel 4-5 fat cloves of garlic

Peel and chop coarsely 1" knob of ginger

Now we will make an ubiquitous, everyday masala with this.

Heat 1-2 tsp of Olive oil in a frying pan. Add the above chopped onion-tomato etc.. Saute. Sprinkle some salt. Fry the onion tomato till onion is soft and pink, tomato is cooked down and garlic, ginger is softer. You can fry them more till onion is browned etc. but this stage works well too. Now cool the above, put in a blender jar and with only splashes of water make a thick paste.

Ta-Da. This masala paste will serve as your savior in most week days. Use it as a base to make different gravies.

Cook Egg Curry

For the egg curry now boil 4 eggs. Once the eggs are cooked and peeled we will fry them. For this purpose, heat a tsp of oil in the same frying pan. Add about 1/2 tsp turmeric powder. Add the eggs and fry till the skin of the eggs blister and gets a pretty golden brown.

Remove the eggs and keep aside.

Heat some more oil for the gravy. Temper the oil with 1/4 tsp of Cumin seeds and 2 tej-patta

When the spices sizzle, add half of the the onion-tomato-ginger-garlic paste and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Next add
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Mirch
1/2 tsp cumin powder
and 1/4 tsp coriander powder
Fry the masla with a sprinkle of water.

Add a tbsp of Tomato ketchup and cook the masala.

Once you see the oil seeping or that there is no raw smell, add about 1/2 cup of water, salt to taste, little sugar and let the gravy come to a boil.

When the gravy is boiling, check and adjust the seasonings.
Now add about 1/4cup of whole milk and mix well. Lower the heat and let the gravy simmer.
Crush/warm a tsp of Kasoori methi between your palms and add that.

Halve the fried eggs and add them to the gravy.
Also add about 4-6 green chilies cut in halves along their length.
Finish off by garnishing with chopped coriander leaves.

Shorshe Kashundi Murgi -- Chicken in Mustard Sauce

 

This had been a hectic weekend.

Wrapping up the final touch up for the book; the fonts, the typos, the excitement, the elation and then the depression.

Until Saturday night I was on a high. Half of Saturday night had been spent online, working with my editor in India and chatting more working while she corrected those last little things. I went to sleep around 3:30 AM Sunday morning and by the time I woke up late on Sunday, it was like I had downed several tequila the night before. And this, when I don't drink and have never really experienced a hangover.

If you have had a baby, painted, created music, worked on a project that sapped your soul, written a book, did anything that you loved so much  --- you would understand what I am trying to say. My editor summed it up as "Post partum depression". And she was right. That is what it felt like. There it was, "my baby", the one I nurtured, fed, gave my everything, going out into the big bad world. No longer did I have any control on her fate. She was now left on her own, to chart her own path and be what she wants to be. I will be there to help, standing by the sideline, my heart in my mouth, but my work is done.

I really, truly hope you all will welcome her like your own and be kind. For everything else I will be here.

And if all this talk sounds too cheesy, wait, for there are sharper things in the next para.

So anyway to quell the butterflies in my tummy I made a Shorshe Murgi yesterday night. Again. That pungency and hot green chilli will help clear my sentimental sinuses, I thought.

Since I have made the homemade Kasundi, this dish has become easy peasy and I have done it couple of times in just the last few days. My Ma did this with mustard and garlic ground together to a paste with little yogurt. She added some grated coconut if she had some. I, the new BongMom with a can of coconut milk always in her pantry, used that instead. The result was really good and if you know me, I don't brag. Okay, okay, but only sometimes

Now instead of homemade, if you have a bottle of store bought Kasundi , go ahead and use that. The only thing I worry is, that the quality of your Kashundi will control the dish then. If that bottle is not pungent enough, you can make a little shorshe bata(mustard paste) and add that to supplement the bottled kasundi. Whatever you do, go by the taste and smell and you will arrive at your  destination...err at your Shorshe Kashundi Murgi.

So raising a toast to my parents, my daughters, the husband, my friends, you guys and everyone who bore the brunt of my writing, with this " jhanjhalo shorshe murgi". For my excellent editor and her team, I owe you this and more.

The book goes to print tomorrow. Amen.

Shorshe Kashundi Murgi

Marinate about 3/4-1 lb of chicken in
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
salt
turmeric powder
1 tsp Mustard oil

Now if you have bottle of Kashundi or you have made Kashundi from my post, USE THAT.
That is the best option.

If you do not have that, which is a shame, make a mustard paste as follows
Soak
1 tbsp Mustard seeds
in a tbsp water for 30 mins

Make a paste of
the mustard
2 fat clove of garlic
1 tbsp yogurt
2 green chilli
salt to taste 
with a splash of water



Heat 2 tbsp Mustard Oil for cooking

Temper the oil with
1/4th tsp of Kalonji
5 slit green chilli

When the kalojeere sputters and the chilli hisses add
2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste 
Note: I add homemade ginger-garlic paste. You can add minced garlic or just garlic paste


Cook for half a minute and add the chicken pieces.
Sprinkle some more turmeric powder.

Saute the chicken pieces till they loose their raw color and turn golden yellow
If the chicken is releasing water , wait till some of the water dries up.
This takes about 10-15 minutes

Next add
3 tbsp of your Kasundi
OR
the mustard paste you made
Note: When using store bough Kasundi depending on its pungency you may have to use more. If it is not hot enough, you need more green chilli too


Mix well and cook for couple more minutes

Add
1/2 cup of thick  Coconut Milk (more if you want more coconut flavor)
1/2 cup Water
salt to taste
5 more slit green chili

Mix well and  then cover and cook till chicken is done. Taste, adjust and reduce the gravy till your desired thickness. Should be on the thicker side. Drizzle few drops of mustard oil to finish.

Serve with steaming white rice. Sniff. Sniff.

I need a hug. And some tissue.


Similar Recipes:

Another version of shorshe chicken is at Deepasri's blog

Aam Kashundi -- the Bengali Mustard Sauce

Before I write even one more sentence, let me dispel any doubts about this being the traditional recipe for real Kashundi or Kasundi.

It is not.

I don't know how to make the traditional Kasundi. My mother never made it. I don't think my grandmothers did it either.

But my father's grandmother and grandaunt did. They were the designated Kashundi makers of the family. In the days when Kashundi was not bottled and sold, they were the ones who kept up a steady supply of that pungent, sharp Bengali mustard sauce in our home.

My father's grandmother "Baro Ma",  a highly esteemed foodie and a lady famous for her culinary skills, passed away when I was a mere year-old child.Sadly, I wasn't intelligent enough to absorb her kashundi making process in that early year of my life. My Ma as a relatively new mother at that time probably thought the task to be too daunting and never learned it either.

Mustard seeds, mango, garlic, green chilli

My father's grandaunt then continued the tradition in her own home, and other than receiving couple of bottles of that mustardy goodness every year and discussing how grandaunt with her frail health still kept up at her kashundi making, no one in my immediate family ventured in that direction. "Khub shokto", "Very Difficult" is all that I heard. "The kashundi can be made only on certain days with utmost cleanliness and respect. You can not talk or touch anybody while making it. A little carelessness, and all that hard work will have gone to waste as the kashundi will get spoilt".

By the time grandaunt stopped making Kashundi, small cottage industries and then brands like Radhuni etc. were selling bottled Kasundi like hot cake. We bought Kashundi from the stores and a need to make it at home never arrived.

Those days, in absence of food processors and spice blenders, the brown and yellow seeds of mustard were to be ground on the sheel, the pockmarked slab of stone which is a major landmark in a Bengali kitchen. That must have been the "hard work" part. Now, when I pause and look back, I understand the "cleanliness" part, it was the same thing with achhar(pickles) and bori. In absence of any preservatives or refrigeration, it was necessary to maintain these standards for the finished condiment to have a long shelf life.

Though my grandmother did not make Kashundi, she made bori in the dry sunny days of winter. It was an elaborate affair with the dal being soaked overnight and then ground next day in batches. Early next morning the bori making would ensue at the terrace where washed and starched spun cotton saris and dhotis would be stretched out, their corners secured by rectangular red bricks. My grandmother would take a quick bath, change her clothes and then arrive at the scene. Small dollops of the lentil pastes would be dropped on the those stretched cloth and left to dry in the winter sun.

Younger children or the house help would be assigned the job to keep away birds from those raw boris, waiting to bake in the sun. However we were not allowed to go near, touch or poke those small mounds of lentil pastes. Those mornings we were not allowed to run around on the terrace either. The whole affair was shrouded in an environment of sanctity and we looked at "bori making" with lot of respect.

Now here in the US, I get my yearly supply of Kasundi from India. This means I use it with much care, using it sparingly and trying to get most for the tablespoon of kasundi I use. I cannot be as generous with kasundi as I can be with soy sauce. The niggling doubt of what-if-my-stash-of-kasundi-does-not-last-until-Ma-visits consumes me on my worst days.

So a few years ago when my blogger friend Sharmila @ KichuKhon vouched for another blogger Delhibelle's Aam Kasundi, I thought what do I have to lose. It also helped (a lot) that her recipe was super simple and involved nothing of the word "shokto" aka difficult. It used raw mangoes with mustard seeds to produce the tangy spicy taste. Maybe it does not exactly taste like the real Kasundi but so what, it comes close, very very close and believe me it tastes awesome.

I have made this couple of times in the last year and recently made another batch. I refrigerate the bottles as I am not sure if they will stay good outside. Refrigerated they stay well for weeks. I mostly use it in dishes like shorshe salmon or bhapa ilish or in a shorshe murgi which I will share soon. It is also very good as a dip and with a bottle of it in your collection you will not miss the real Kasundi all that much.

Aam Kasundi

Delhibelle's Original Recipe

Here is how I made it

Soak in water
4 tbsp Mustard seeds ( a mix of brown and yellow gives the best color but I had only brown this time). Ideally soaking for 30mins to an hour is best as it softens the mustard seeds for grinding.

Grate a small mango to yield
3/4th-1 cup of grated raw Mango
(I put peeled and cubed raw mango in the mixie to get roughly grated mangoes.)

In a blender jar add
strained mustard seeds
grated mango
5 fat clove of garlic chopped
8-10 hot green chilli chopped

Add a splash of vinegar (approx. 2tbsp) and 1/3rd Cup of Mustard Oil to the blender jar. Make a smooth paste. Try to make the paste in one go instead of pulsing.

When the paste is almost done
drizzle 4 tbsp mustard oil (more is better but I went low)
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
sugar (about 1 tbsp but more depending on the tartness of the mango)
Give a final whizz and your Aam Kasundi is ready

Pour out in a glass jar with lid. Top off with Mustard oil and leave it on the window ledge for a couple of days.