Egg Curry

Egg curry is a comforting Indian dish of curried eggs. It is basically made with hard boiled eggs, onions, tomatoes, whole & ground spices and herbs. Indian cuisine is very diverse and an egg curry is made in several ways, with recipes varying by state and even by family. You can make an egg curry in countless ways and I have shared more than 10 ways on this blog to make curried eggs. But this Punjabi dhaba style egg curry is very special & my family loves this. For the uninitiated, Dhabas are roadside budget restaurants hugely popular in India. You are sure to find a dhaba on the outskirts/ suburbs of every town and city all over India. At one time, these existed on the Highways for the convenience of truck drivers & travelers but in the recent years dhabas are everyone’s favorite. Whether travelling on a highway or not, people visit there more often just to enjoy the Dhaba food. Most Punjabi Dhabas serve a basic menu with limited options but their food is super flavorful and delicious. You will always find comforting dishes like Dal Fry, Dal Tadka, Tandoori Roti, Naan, Jeera rice and Egg curry (only in places serving meat). This Dhaba style Egg curry is so good and is close to what you get in a Punjabi dhaba, except for the amount of oil and ghee since we prefer lesser in our everyday foods. A typical dhaba curry has lots of oil oozing out of the gravy and if this is what you like, please feel free to use more oil or ghee as mentioned in my notes below.

About The Recipe

Onions and tomatoes form the base of this dish and you can use them in one of the 3 forms – fine chopped, grated or pureed. The flavor and texture of your egg curry depends on how you use them. For a chunky egg curry, they can be used chopped. But onion and tomato puree gives the best results as this recipe does not use any other ingredient like cream, nuts or gram flour which is otherwise used in a lot of Indian dishes. I personally prefer the pureed version as my boys are super fussy to chunky curries. Here are more egg curry recipes Spicy Egg Masala South Indian Egg Gravy Egg Butter Masala Chettinad Style Egg Masala

How to Make Egg Curry (Stepwise photos)

Preparation

  1. Firstly fine chop 2 medium onions, about 1 to 1 ¼ cup fine chopped onions. Optional – If you want a smooth curry, then you have to puree the onions in a grinder. Raw onion puree tastes bitter most of the times so it is essential to boil them prior to pureeing. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Then add 2 cubed onions and boil for 4 to 5 minutes. This will remove the raw and pungent smell of the onions. Drain and grind them without adding water.
  2. Make a fine paste and keep this aside in a bowl.
  3. Fine chop or puree 3 medium tomatoes. I went ahead making a puree. Blend chopped tomatoes in the same blender jar.
  4. Set this aside as well.
  5. Pat dry and prick the boiled eggs with fork 2 to 3 times, so they don’t burst while frying. Heat half tablespoon oil or ghee in a non-stick pan and fry them until golden & blistered. If you prefer to spice them, turn off the stove and sprinkle 1 pinch each of red chilli powder and garam masala. Keep them aside.

Make Onion Tomato Masala

  1. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan. You can use the same pan used to fry eggs. Using whole spices is optional & feel free to skip whatever you don’t have. I use the following spices:

1 small bay leaf½ inch cinnamon2 green cardamom½ teaspoon cumin seeds (optional)2 cloves (optional)

  1. When the spices begin to sizzle, add onions. Saute until golden and the raw smell goes away completely. This does take time, so be patient.
  2. Next add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste and saute well until the raw smell goes away.
  3. Add tomatoes. Saute until the mixture thickens and raw smell goes away.
  4. Then add the following spice powders & other ingredients:

½ to 1 teaspoon red chili powder (adjust to taste)⅛ teaspoon turmeric½ to 1 teaspoon garam masala (adjust to taste)1 teaspoon sugar (to balance the flavors)½ to ¾ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)

  1. Fry the onion tomato masala until it begins to smell really good and oil begins to separate. Takes about 2 to 4 mins. I haven’t used much oil here so oil is not visible. But dhaba style anda curry is made with more oil.

Make Egg Curry

  1. Pour 1 to 1¼ cups water to make a gravy. Mix well and boil the gravy until it thickens. When it is done you will see some traces of oil on the gravy. Taste test the gravy and add more salt if needed.
  2. Add the fried eggs and give a gentle stir. Cover & cook on a low heat for 2 to 3 minutes for the eggs to absorb the flavors. Optional – take ¼ teaspoon kasuri methi in your palm, crush them and add it here.
  3. Optional for creamy curry – Meanwhile blend together 10 cashews with 4 to 5 tablespoons water to smooth milk. Then pour it and cook for 1 to 2 mins until the curry turns thick. Or you can just add 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream. Sprinkle coriander leaves. Serve punjabi egg curry with naan, rice, roti or paratha.

Pro Tips

In this post I have shown how a Punjabi dhaba style egg curry is made. But the tips mentioned below will help you swap in some ingredients for the other depending on your taste & availability of the ingredients.

  1. Whole spices: Cumin, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamoms & cloves are the whole spices that are used in a egg curry. However you can use whatever you have in hand. Even one or 2 kinds of spices will enhance the aroma of the dish. If you have mustard seeds just go ahead and use them.
  2. Ginger garlic: I have used ginger garlic paste. It can be replaced with minced, crushed or grated ginger garlic.
  3. Onions: To make a egg curry, most people use finely chopped or grated onions. Using chopped onions will yield a slightly chunky egg curry. You can use in any form you like.
  4. Tomatoes: This recipe can be made with fine chopped or pureed tomatoes. Pureed tomatoes will prevent the curry from turning watery. In some places, I have seen Dhaba style egg curry is made with grated tomatoes.

Variations

A basic egg curry is made without any cream, cashews or coconut milk. We Indians make most regular curries without any of those. Only for occasions I do add them. Here are some variations you can make to the egg curry.

  1. Cream : If you prefer a creamy egg curry, then add in 3 to 4 tbsps of cream towards the end.
  2. Cashews : You can also add about 10 cashews to add a milky aroma to the gravy. They also add volume to the dish. Related Recipes

Recipe Card

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