Chettinad Egg Masala (Chettinad Muttai Masala)

 Boiled eggs in any form is tempting for people of all ages. That too egg in a rich gravy,it will be really mouth watering. This Chettinad egg masala is very easy to cook even for bachelors as it does not require any grinding.

                                         Now a days there is a mushrooming of Chettinad restaurants in all levels from five star to road side shops naming themselves as Chettinad. I am really proud that every one is fond of Chettinad food. My only concern is that people have a misconception about Chettinad food that it will be very spicy and will made of hand grinded masala.The truth is that Chettinad food will be very mild and with very little grinded masala.Chettinad achi as I have mentioned several times in my previous blogs that they don't use too much of anything.I have seen my mom,grand mom and the relatives of my elder generation taking 6 to 7 ladies finger,4 small onions,3 pods of Garlic and a very small tomato for a ladies finger sambar. The amount of thoor dhal they use will be one hand full.Another thing that I want to tell here that they use only one kuzhambu milagai thool for almost all  veg and non veg curries. Coconut is very rarely used and when used also very little is used as they believe that too much of coconut will spoil the taste of the gravy.They don't use much oil too.It is the care and patience of their cooking makes the food delicious.

                                                     Last week we went to a famous chettinad restaurant in town and ordered for a Chettinad mushroom gravy.The gravy which was served was really mouth watering with oil on top and full of masala.since we are not used to so much of masala we couldn't finish the dish though we liked it. It was 8 pm that we had our dinner out there. By 12.30 I got up with some pain in the stomach and was lying in the bed thinking of what to do. With in ten minutes my husband also got up complaining of some burning sensation . The next two days was really bad for us.This incident really made me write this blog.Please dont use too much of spices and grinded masala thinking of making the gravy tasty as it is not  good for the stomach.Be very careful while using oil too. Use oil in correct quantity.Too less oil also will make the dish taste less.

                                               Coming to our egg masala it is very simple and easy and does not require too much of ingredients.9 out of 10 times we think of egg curry only when we run out of vegetables or when we want something fast.So this recipe will be handy that time.

Ingredients

Boiled egg. 4

Minced onion. 1

Tomato. 1

Chopped garlic. 4 to 5 pods

Kuzhambu milagai thool (sambar powder). 2 table spoons

Coriander powder 1 table spoon

Turmeric powder. 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves. Little

Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure

Boil the eggs for 20 minutes with eggs immersed in water in a kettle.Let the eggs cool.once they are cold bring it under running water and peel off the shell.Cut the eggs into halves and keep aside.now for the gravy keep the kadai in the stove.In two table spoons of cooking oil season the gravy with a teaspoon of fennel seeds,3 small pieces of Cinnamon,2 cloves and few curry leaves.add the minced onions and a pinch of salt and saute for 2 minutes .Now add the tomatoes minced and saute for 2 minutes.when the tomatoes turn soft add the kuzhambu milagai thool,turmeric powder and coriander powder,salt required and mix in low fire.high flame will burn the powders,so be careful.once they are mixed add a cup of water and cook in medium flame for 10 minutes.when you feel that the gravy is in the desired consistency add the boiled eggs and cook for 3 more minutes. Make sure that there is enough gravy for the eggs to be inside the gravy.If you want gravy to be more ,double the onion and tomatoes and the masala powders. Before adding the eggs taste for salt and spice if found less add them. Finally garnish with coriander leaves.

                   This  recipe will take only 30 minutes to cook as we can make the masala while we are boiling the eggs.