CURRIED EGGS.
I’ve had a hankering for Curried eggs for the past couple of days, I’m not sure why… So tonight, I knocked this one together. Rich and simple, cheap and easy, this is set to become a Major favourite in my household…
Ingredients: (Serves 2)
4 free range eggs
1 onion
1 tbsp oil
1 fresh red chilli or pinch of dried chilli flakes
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cumin
400g chopped tomatoes
100g frozen or fresh spinach
100g natural or Greek yoghurt
First, pop a pan of water on to the boil for the eggs, and carefully drop them in. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 8 minutes to hard boil them. We’ll come back to those in a minute.
In a separate pan, add the oil and spices, and dice or slice the onion according to preference. Cook on a medium heat for a few minutes to soften the onions.
Carefully remove the eggs from the pan when they are done, and set to one side. Add the rice to the ‘egg water’ – saves you boiling another pot!
Pour the chopped tomatoes over the now-spicy onions, and add the frozen spinach. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and leave to simmer while the rice cooks. (To save energy, you can turn the heat off and cover with foil, a lid or a large plate – the curry sauce will carry on cooking itself but will need a quick blast of heat again before serving.)
Peel and halve the eggs and add to the sauce with the yoghurt, stir in, heat through, and serve with rice. Mango chutney is a great addition to this dish too – I just don’t have any in the fridge. Booooo.
Jack Monroe. Twitter: @msjackmonroe
Categories: Recipes & Food, VEGETARIAN
I watched you on the TV having a spat with Edwina – you really held your own well done – I ran a restaurant at the London School of Economics in the late 1980’s and we made egg curry the day that Edwina Currie made the eggs are all infected with salmonella statement that lost her her job. We called it Edwina Curry that day!
Great recipe! keep up the good work – Shirlee and Jane
Maybe I’m been daft but the ingredients don’t list rice but the recipe says to add it, how much did you put in?
Glad you asked that! I’ve read it 4 times!!!
Tinned tomatoes? Or fresh chopped?
i would guess tinned.
Not sure if you realised, but you haven’t actually including the rice in the ingredients list! Looks yummy though!
not really a fan of curried eggs- childhood eggs done not quite so well, but this sounds delicious . theres a glut of tomaotes and a few chillies in the garden and the chook has started laying again so will give it a go
glut of tomatoes in the garden in February???Nice!
Ha! In this case revenge is a dish best eaten hot. Served on the moral high ground.
I’m glad you made egg curry/curried eggs, I mentioned it on your post about what to make with your shopping and its something I’ve made a few times in the past but always using the same recipe (from bbc good food) so its good to have another recipe to try. Surprisingly I have all the required ingredients so may try it this week! Thanks Jack 🙂
There’s no rice in picture is there you can dip your bread in the choice is your own!
another winner of both recipe and wording, shame this is not ‘best served cold’ like another dish I can think of ….
by the way same goes for the rice in that as soon as the water is boiling you can put the lid on and turn the hob off. this works best when there is just enough water rather than too much as then it steams and gets nice and fluffy i.e. 2:1 water to rice so 2 cups water for 1 cup of rice
cheers
My laptop showed me part of the subject field – so I originally read “Rich, cheap and easy Currie” – so I thought this was going to be a character assassination of John Major’s ex girlfriend!
Hi Jack! If you want a similar eggy dish have you tried Shakshuka? Its either (or both) Lebanese or Israeli…I have seen it called both, and eaten it in Tunisia .
You make a spicy tomato stew just like you did above but instead of adding pre boiled eggs, you crack them into ‘dents ‘ in the tomato stew and let it plip and plop till the whites are set and the yolks still soft. Yummy with bread of any sort. You can use parsley or coriander to garnish, or both. I have also added peppers (frozen or fresh) and bits of leftover chorizo, or even a can of cannelini beans.
I chose to read the comments in case anyone suggested poaching the eggs in the spicy curry sauce. You beat me to it. I first saw this poaching style version in a book by Harvey Day in 1979-80 which was again an excellent recipe. The additional ingredient though was tamarind which I think can be substituted with a dash vinegar. I later discovered a similar recipe for a Tex Mex dish called Heuvos Rancheros (Ranch Eggs) spiced with Jalapeno peppers and served on corn tortillas. Both methods make quite a yummy dish for the spiceaholic. Jack’s version just shows how cosmopolitan food can be and just takes a little inspiration to create even if the stimulation comes from bad Currie.
This sounds divine. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks Jack 🙂
Love eggs, love curry, love spinach. Will definitely be trying this recipe out. Thank you!
Reblogged this on La Vita, Leeds United, l'Universo e Tutto and commented:
Another cheap and tasty recipe from that Girl Called Jack. Keep em coming, they’re tasty!!
I am afraid to say this looks a bit of a mess and is therefore a perfect comment on the person who inspired it. I presume the red chilli represents Mr Major’s underpants . . .
Or put the eggs in a small saucepan with warm tap water, cover with a lid and bring to the boil on the hob. Turn off the heat and leave the covered pan on the hob for 6+ minutes – save yourself loads of energy and the eggs cook in roughly the same amount of time! (If you’ve a gas hob, I’d guess that you may have to simmer the eggs for a minute before turning off the hob because an electric hob keeps some residual heat, whereas the gas hob wouldn’t.)
Good tip – and, yes, I’m on gas and simmer for a short while before switching off. I don’t use warm tap water though. I pre-boil in the kettle – wonder which is cheapest?
Yes, I think that was no accident… Jack doesn’t usually make errors of grammar like the ‘mistaken’ capital M in Major above…
I’ve almost fallen off my sofa giggling….. Nice one Jack!!! X
Fab, funny and delicious. Ta.
No mango chutney, try Banana and Cumin Raita, toast cumin seeds in dry pan a little, add to sliced banana and mix with plain yoghurt -yum- leftovers good for breakfast too Very cooling and comforting. Good over a salad as a dressing as well.
Jack. Fab. Again…..been looking after Mum. Wine. Xx
Nice one!!
Just a word of advice, if you are going to cook the rice in the egg water, give your eggs a wash before you put them in. Commercial free range eggs aren’t normally washed at source, so they’ve come straight from the chicken and then sat around in their box for over a week before they hit the supermarket shelves.
I am glad, that someone else also thought about the problem with the egg water. However, giving the eggs a wash isn´t a solution: Eggs should not be washed, because the impurities would then run into the egg through the permeable eggshell.
It is a brilliant thought, reusing the warm egg water. But, sorry, I wouldn´t use the egg water for cooking, I would instead water the plants with it.
Any other thoughts or ideas?
Yes, I usually use my egg water for plant watering when its cooled. I don’t think I would use it for cooking, though since having a water meter I reuse whatever water I can!
I’d agree – since going onto a water meter I’m a bit tight with water, but i wouldn’t cook with egg water, i always use it up watering plants!
Sorry phone bring funny it said my first try didn’t go through, obviously it did!!
As Dawn said above, you can take the eggs off the heat after a minute, cover and set aside to finish cooking. Use the same ring for the sauce.
Not being from the UK, I didn’t get the egg/Major subtlety but reading on I do now. I’m sure these eggs will taste even better now 😉
Hi Jack, I like this elegant recipe and had read about (but not seen – I’m in Australia) the incident that inspired it. Sounds like a shocking experience. However not surprising – I have bad memories of Ms Currie from Britain in 1980’s. This is potentially a new genre, blogging about ‘cooking as therapy’, or something like that. Love it! And keep up the good work, x
Food and fun, brilliant.
Hi Jack, I’m a fan of your blog and your great recipes inspire. I’ve nominated you for the sunshine award, if you’d like to accept it the link is here: http://talesofadventureblog.com/2014/02/06/spread-a-little-sunshine/
Thanks for helping people on a tight budget maintain a sense of self worth and keep going.
All the best,
Laura xx
this looks AMAZING!
And making your own chutney is one-pot easy and economical, using ingredients that you usually have in your regular rotation: any fruit (fresh! tinned! dehydrated! but probably not banana), onion, vinegar, sugar, chilli, and not necessary but always nice: mustard seed. So if you’re having a curry and are hard up for chutney, you could bang some out.
I watched you on the TV having a spat with Edwina.,you really held your own well done.,I ran a restaurant at the London School of Economics in the late 1980′s and we made egg curry the day that Edwina Currie made the eggs are all infected with salmonella statement that lost her her job.. We called it Edwina Curry that day!
Great recipe! keep up the good work – Shirlee and Jane
I’m so glad I read the comments, as I didn’t spot your subtle clever jibes! You delight me more and more each time I read a new post!
Just wanted to share the egg curry recipe I use, I cook it for my dad, who used to tell a story about the canteen at the place he worked when he first came here from India in the 60s, they made egg curry, rice and chips once a week, and tho it wasn’t the slightest bit Indian, he loved it. He’d not been able to find similar in years, so I asked him to describe it. I took a curry sauce recipe from Good Housekeeping cook book (my recipe bible) and he says I recreated it perfectly. I’ve been making it for 20 years now, and it is still a favourite.
It is basically a white sauce with onions and Bolsts curry powder, (yes, really!) And some mango chutney stirred in at the end. Scrummy, filling, and surely quite cheap to make…
Recipe looks great. When I was a kid my ma had a separate pan for boiling eggs. Said there was something ‘poisonous’ about eggs shells. Old wives tale?
Do you know I have a separate egg boiling saucepan, because my mum does and she insists you have to boil them in their own saucepan, but she doesn’t know why. I do as I’m told, but would be interested to know if its actually necessary!
Haha! Very funny. BTW eruptionista, the underpants were blue!
Ha, ha! Too funny!
You could perhaps also cook the eggs by breaking them directly into the tomato mixture (as is often done in huevos rancheros).
This is just…well, it’s sublime is what it is 🙂
This made me snort. Nicely done.
P.S Recipe actually sounds ok though so mught give it a whirl… I’ve never tried it before and having my own chooks makes it verrrrryyyy cheap.
Though presumably if reusing the ‘egg water’ to boil the rice in, you want to make sure the eggs are clean when you put them in? No poo, feathers and other bits still stuck to them….
Looks great, I must be deficient in something as I’m obsessed with eggs just now. Thanks.
Trying frying the hard boiled eggs in the tiniest amount of oil and turmeric/chili powder before adding to the sauce.
My mum used to make this all the time when I was little
Reblogged this on jaishreekchauhan and commented:
tasty
Reblogged this on home of real food and commented:
One to try I think even with the tongue in cheek reference !
Love your ideas! I hardly ever follow recipes to the dot and tend to use them more as a base, but you have given me lots of ideas! As I have no eggs and no chopped tomatoes, I used a carton of passata and a tin of potatoes – so actually making curried potatoes I guess… And loads more spinach (I love spinach!) and some garlic. It’s cooking right now and the smell is killing me, so hungry! Thanks Jack, you are an inspiration to so many!!!
How much rice is needed???
Can this be frozen?
Rich and simple, cheap and easy – what a corker of a double entendre, well done that woman! Oh, and the recipe is pretty good too. But you left out the Mandy _ Davies!
Now I don’t need to think about what I wanna make for dinner tomorrow, this looks amazing! 🙂
Great recipe. Cheapest way to buy onions is by the sack – I got 4Kg for £1 a couple of weeks ago. which was cheapest I’ve ever managed; Street markets or Asian shope are best, but more usually £1.50. They keep well if they are cool (doesn’t have to be in the fridge).
Also, forgot to say that if you have a microwave it is great for cooking rice and vegetables and uses MUCH less power than a hob and is incredibly fast. But don’t try boiling your eggs in a microwave – I tried that with spectacular results! But it does make great scrambled eggs and my breakfast porage, too……. It’s not juse for defrosting stuff.
Please use lbs and ozs. This recipe is of very little use for those of us who would never use EU enforced measures even if they paid us. To use a system that that has been forced on us (in many cases by law) by a foreign, non democratic entity that has destroyed our country and taken our sovereignty is truly disgusting, Jack. How could you be so subservient? If you had any anti globalist (those same globalists that are making us all skint) sentiments you’d switch to UK measures. Will you?
LOL! Nothing quite like a Pom complaining that somebody else destroyed their country and took their sovereignty. Guess globalism was fine when the globe was your empire, eh mate? 🙂
You’d best steer clear of this recipe all together. Chilli, turmeric, cumin, tomatoes – it’s all foreign muck. Come to think of it, curry is Indian, isn’t it? Why, even the yoghurt is Greek! I mean, so is Prince Philip, but you can’t be too careful. Today it’s yoghurt, tomorrow you’ll be using centimetres, and then the Germans will have finally won!
(Love the recipe, Jack – was expecting sandwiches but got something much better. This will be perfect coming into the Aussie autumn – warm, but not stodgy, and cheap – especially with our own silverbeet from the vege patch! Keep it up!)
Well said Matt. Surprised a comment such as Matthew’s was even allowed to be posted – what an awful attitude.
The metric system. Because it makes sense.
I checked the “egg water” problem with my scientist husband- he said any bacteria etc would be killed by the 6 minute boiling. The egg shells would leach calcium into the water so ok to use on plants which like hard chalky water…
Matthew, I am not sure I understand what your objection to metric measures is, but please bear in mind that not all Jack’s readers are in the UK, I am in Australia, and we use the metric system. Moreover, Australians generally don’t see metric as a symbol of oppression. Even the name ‘Imperial’ has overtones of colonialism, so if anything, Australians would find imperial measures oppressive, if they could be bothered. Metric is also much more logical than imperial and more user friendly. Just saying.
Loved your recipe, might buy your book.
This was great. My 8 month old is also obsessed with your dhal (minus stock cube), so thanks as I was stressing about making cheap, un-fussy weaning recipes!
Made this for the second time in as many weeks last night. Only used two eggs to make it cheaper and added in two tins of chopped tomatoes to bulk it out. Made three portions. Going to stir one of these through pasta for a tasty and easy lunch.
Thanks again Jack! Pre-ordered three copies of the book already. Good luck with it.
Just made this for tea and both of my girls and my hubby loved it. Thanks Jack for a tasty tea that they all love 🙂
Oh definitely have to try this one. I love curry and I love eggs. What could be better than both together? Thanks Jack!!
Superb recipe this, we had it for lunch on Sunday. We didn’t have any mango chutney either, but a bit of our homemade spicy plum chutney worked almost as well…
Just had this for tea and it was absolutely awesome! Can’t wait to have the rest tomorrow 🙂
Just made this with left over chicken in instead of eggs. Unbelievable the amount of times iv tried makeing a curry and work iv put into them, then disappointment. But boom. Easy, simple and taste good.
Fantastic recipe, it was absolutely delish! I’ll make this again.
Reblogged this on alittle1atswat.
Just made this for lunch and really enjoyed it. Managed to make it with things I already had in, was easy and satisfied my curry craving. Thank you Jack, love your recipes, another yummy one!