Quick side dish with eggs (Anda Bhaji)
In Mumbai, our neighbours on the ground floor were malayalees with one aunty who was a maharashtrian. Imagine our joy when it was holi or diwali or ganesh chaturthi. The treats we got from aunty’s house was worth an annual wait. The chaklis, puranpolis, modaks and so much more. But some of my favourite dishes from aunty are those simple dishes – comfort food : Masale bhaat , phodni ka bhaat, varan and this dish that we call “Anda Bhaji“
Anda bhaji is a rustic dish, it has no airs around it. Egg rounds nestled in a spicy onion tomato base. Where it differs from the normal egg curry, is in that the onions and tomatoes are not cooked down but left to hold their shape and crunch. This helps in increasing the volume of the dish as well as adds to it’s taste with an extra crunch and bite.
I made this tonight for dinner as i was late to start on dinner prep. We had been eating rice for several nights so thought would switch to roti for a change. I wanted a spicy quick dish to go with the rotis and thought about this dish. This was served for dinner last nite with soft phulka rotis, onion slices, a lemon wedge and coriander leaves as garnish. Such a quick and satisfying meal.
Minimal effort maximum results!!! 🙂 <- My motto in the kitchen..
Anda Bhaji
Ingredients
- 5 eggs hard boiled
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 onion big
- 1 tomatoes medium
- 1 tbsp ginger, garlic, green chilli paste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 handful coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
- As the 1st step, hardboil 5 eggs. Refer notes for tips on boiling eggs correctly. Peel and slice the eggs into rounds. This is slightly more
- While the eggs are boiling, prep your ingredients. Roughly chop an onion*, 1 medium sized tomato, and crush together 4 small garlic cloves, 1 inch piece of ginger and 1 green chilly
- In a pan, add 2 tbsp of oil. I always use my cast iron pan as i feel this is a healthier option than non-stick ones. Also, food tastes better cooked in these somehow (i feel that way). When the oil heats up, add cumin and mustard seeds and let it splutter
- Add the onions and cook until slightly soft & translucent. Do not overcook the onions as this is the main texture of the dish.
- Add in the ginger, garlic, chilli paste and fry this for a few seconds. Now add the spice powders (turmeric, chilli, coriander) and fry for a minute on medium-low flame.
- Add the tomatoes and salt and stir to cook. Again making sure that the tomatoes do not overcook and retain their shape.
- At this stage, add the cumin and garam masala powders. I add it later to the dish to retain their flavours
- add 1/2 cup of water if you require some gravy, otherwise this step is completely optional
- Carefully add the sliced eggs to the masala, and with the spatula spoon the masala on top of the eggs. Mix in some coriander leaves and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so for the flavours to blend.
- Serve with some nice hot phulka rotis, sliced onions, a wedge of lemon with few more coriander leaves for garnish.
