Egg (Muttai)Thokku

Egg (Muttai )Thokku - is a yummy South Indian dish from Tamil Nadu. Imagine perfectly boiled eggs in a tasty, spicy tomato based gravy. This simple recipe however a burst of deliciousness in every bite.

As a child, I always remember eating egg thokku along with lemon rice. It used to be my favorite curry made with eggs. It also goes so well with a lot of other variety rice dishes like curd rice, puliyodharai etc. I am so happy that my elder daughter, Kalki, has taken quite a liking to it and asks me to make it often.

What is Thokku anyway?

In the context of South Indian cuisine, "thokku" refers to a style of preparation where ingredients, often including vegetables, meat, or eggs, are cooked down with a blend of spices and condiments to form a thick, concentrated, and flavorful paste or relish. Thokku is known for its intense taste and can be preserved for an extended period.

Why makes egg thokku special?

• It is such a versatile dish that it pairs well with a variety of dishes like thayir sadham, sambar sadham, elumichai (lemon) sadham, puli sadham (tamarind rice) and even chapathi. It even goes well just plain rice.

Jump to:

• What is Thokku anyway?
• Why makes egg thokku special?
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• Related
• Pairing
• Egg (Muttai)Thokku
• Comments

Ingredients

Egg thokku is one of those simplest recipes that can be made with just a few ingredients and items that you probably already have in your kitchen.

• Egg
• Sesame oil
• Fennel seeds
• Curry leaves
• Red Onions
• Tomatoes
• Homemade curry powder
• Salt
• Water

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Making this recipe involves 3 simple steps.

• Hard boil the eggs.
• Prepare the masala
• Score the hard boiled eggs and add it into the masala.

1- You need to hard boil the eggs and when it is cooled, peel the shells and keep it ready. Bring water to a boil in a pot, then carefully add the eggs and let them simmer for about 10 minutes before cooling and peeling for delicious hard-boiled eggs.

2- In a wok or kadai, heat 3 teaspoons of oil and when the oil is hot, add in the fennel seeds followed by curry leaves. Fennel seeds or sombu are the only whole spice tempering I add to this recipe. I like the lone and subtle flavor of fennel throughout this dish.

3- Once the fennel seeds are roasted in the oil, add the onions that are sliced thinly lengthwise to the pan and saute till they turn translucent and pink. I also prefer to add half the amount of salt that the recipe requires at this stage.

4- At this stage, it is time to add the tomatoes. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute for a minute or 2. When the tomatoes turn slightly mushy, add the homemade kulambu podi and add about ¼ cup water to ensure the masala powder does not burn. Keep sauteing until the tomatoes, onion and masala powder are cooked through.

5- This is the most important stage of the recipe. Slowly taking the time to saute the tomatoes, thickens the recipe and gives it this wonderful body and texture that makes it different from other curry preparations. Add the remaining salt required for this recipe.

6- Keep cooking until the masala has cooked through..

7- It is time now to add the hard boiled eggs. Score the eggs along the outer edges with a knife and add it to the cooked onion- tomato masala. Sprinkle about ¼ cup of water, mix well with the eggs and cover and cook for 2 mins to infuse the eggs with the aroma of the masala.

8- Remove the lid and now cover the eggs with the cooked thokku with the help of the ladle. This helps to infuse the flavors even more.

9- And finally when oils separate again, the egg (muttai) thokku is ready.

Hint: Adding a pinch of salt to the water before boiling the eggs can make them easier to peel after they're cooked. The salt can help prevent the egg white from sticking to the shell, making the peeling process smoother.

Substitutions

Here are some substitutions that you can make for this recipe.

• Onion - instead of red onions, you can use yellow onions, sweet onions, shallots or even pearl onions
• Fresh Tomatoes - use tomato paste or canned tomatoes or both paste and fresh ones like I have done here. I have substituted half a teaspoon of tomato paste for 2 small tomatoes.
• Kulambu powder - You can use store bought Kuzhambu podi or curry powder or sambar powder. If you do not have any of them, you can use half a teaspoon of chilli powder and half a teaspoon of coriander powder for almost similar results.
• Sesame oil - you can alternative use any vegetable oil like peanut oil, coconut oil, canola oil or sunflower oil.

Variations

You can try out the following recipe variations

• Prawns - replace prawns or dried fish in the place of eggs.
• Vegetarian - replace prawns with potatoes, capsicum and/or peas
• Spice variations - add finely sliced ginger and garlic to oil after cooking through the onions for a different flavor of thokku

Equipment

I have made this recipe on a non-stick pan and this has allowed me to roast the thokku without excess oil.

Storage

The thokku keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days. It also freezes well for up to 6 months without adding the boiled eggs. This thokku makes for a great meal prep. A great tip to freeze this recipe is to freeze the recipe in small portions so that you only take out, thaw and use only a part of the recipe.

Related

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Pairing

These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:

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