Description
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.
Ingredients
Scale
Eggs - 4
Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
Fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves (optional)
Red Onions - 1.5 nos
Curry leaves
Campari tomatoes - 5 or 6
Kulambu powder or curry powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup and 2 tbsp
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 1/4 cup water to ensure the masala powder does not burn. Keep sauteing until the tomatoes, onion and masala powder are cooked through.
- 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.
- Keep cooking until the masala has cooked through..
- 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 1/4 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.
- 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.
- And finally when oils separate again, the egg (muttai) thokku is ready. It can be served with plain rice or rasam sadham, lemon rice or chapathi.
Notes
The onions we get in the USA are quite big. So If you are using the big red onions that we get in India, then this recipe calls for 3 large onions.
If using tomato paste 2 to 2.5 teaspoons for this recipe.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 15
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: South Indian
Keywords: thooku, egg curry, muttai thokku