Appam and Egg curry

The two best friends.. appam and egg curry. Although I love chicken, I still prefer egg curry with appam. This has been my favourite since childhood and now I get to finally pass on the “appammania” to my baby. My 10 months old baby had appam for the first time today and absolutely loved it. What more, he had egg curry too! Of coarse the curry was customised for him but tasted just as good as what I normally would make. 

Everyone has their own style of making appams with two things in common, rice and fresh coconut. I have also omitted baking soda and/or yeast as they turn out fairly bubbly after fermenting (just like dosa, idli)

Ingredients for Appam 

1 cup rice
2 cups coconut water
Tender coconut of one coconut
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
Baking soda (Optional, for extra fluffiness)

Wash rice thoroughly and add coconut water to it. Leave it for fermenting for at least 6 hours. If you are planning for dinner then you can start the process in the morning. After 6 hours, grind the rice and coconut water along with tender coconut, sugar, salt.

Let it stand for another hour.

The batter should look like this.

If you want to add soda, do so just before making appams. The appams shown in the pictures do not have soda.

Traditionally, appams are made in appachetti which sadly I do not have 😦 tch tch. So I make them in regular non stick pan which is why the appams in the picture look flat. 


You need to make appams on medium heat. Ladle some batter on to the pan in the centre and gently spread in all directions. While pouring the batter, simmer the flame, then increase the flame to medium and cover with a lid for about 50 seconds. They don’t usually stick to the pan but if they do then take few drops of oil on a tissue paper and wipe the pan before each use.

Most of us with the habit of making dosas will get tempted to add oil at the time of frying.. its actually not required but I myself ended up adding oil and then realised!

They are done when the sides start to come off from the pan. 

For that perfect white appam, do not flip the appam, also there is no need. I was being extra cautious because of the kid. 

Your appam is ready.. enjoy! 🙂

Oh wait, you need egg curry too. So here is my baby friendly egg curry which tastes as good as normal egg curry.

If you don’t eat eggs then vegetable stew, chole curry or soya chunks curry are good options.

Ingredients for Egg curry

4 Eggs
1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
2 onions finely chopped or pureed
3 tomatoes finely chopped or pureed
2 tsp coriander powder
Turmeric
Salt and chilli powder as per taste
2 tbsp oil or ghee

Heat oil in kadhai, add onions, ginger and garlic, fry till onions turn transparent. Add tomato and cook for 2 minutes. Add coriander powder, turmeric, salt, chilli powder and mix well. Add water till the gravy is completely under water. 

Simmer the flame. Break eggs into the gravy by leaving some gap between them. Do not mix or stir. Just cover the lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook till excess water evaporates.

Egg curry is ready!

Enjoy Appam and egg curry 🙂

Some people have doubts about giving fermented food to babies. 
My answer is simple, if you are giving idli, dosa then you can give appam too. 

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Chinese egg hakka noodles

On days when you don’t feel like having dal rice, most of us inadvertently think of Chinese. Noodles is one of the easiest Chinese recipes which gets ready in minutes and require very few ingredients.

Here are the ingredients for Chinese egg hakka noodles (Serves 2)

1 pack of egg noodles (500 gms pack)

3 Eggs

2 onions chopped 

1 red capsicum chopped in desired shape
1 cup chopped cabbage and other vegetables of your choice

1 1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions

2 green chillies finely chopped [optional]

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp 
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp ajinomoto [Optional]

2 tsp vinegar

2 tsp soya sauce

[Actually, I didn’t have both so experimented with balsamic vinegar. Added after turning off the gas and it was awesome! Give it a try]

Bring 1 litre water to boil. Add 1 heaped tsp salt and 1 tsp oil to water along with noodles. Boil for 5 minutes or as per the instructions on the pack. Drain water and spread the noodles on a tray.

Heat 2 tsp olive oil in kadhai. Add garlic and fry till they turn golden brown.
Add onions, ginger garlic paste. Stir continuously on high flame for a minute. Break the eggs and stir continuously till egg is cooked. Add some salt, mix well.
Simmer the flame and add capsicum, vegetables and green chilli. Cook for 4 minutes. Check salt and add some if required.
Increase the flame and add noodles. Sprinkle ajinomoto, pour vinegar (any vinegar of your choice) and soya sauce. I used balsamic vinegar, turned out equally good!
Toss the noodles, make sure noodles are well coated with spices.
Add spring onions and mix well.

Ready to serve!

Hyderabadi Egg Biryani

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When I had just started cooking, there were two dishes that fascinated me the most, one was Biryani and the other, cakes. With time I have grown more and more fond of these 2 preparations. I enjoy not just savouring but also preparing them..

Preparing a Biryani is like an art, its a serious job and when you excel, it gives you great satisfaction.
Try this recipe of Egg Biryani and let me know how did you find it…

Happy cooking!

Ingredients

Spices
Dalchini – 2 pieces each 1 inch
Lavang – 5
Tej patta – 1 large
Chakra phool – 1
Shah jeera – 1 tsp
Jayphal – 1/2
Choti elaichi – 5
Badi elaichi – 1
4-5 tiny saffron strands
[Alternately you can use Badshaah saffron milk masala 1 tsp]
Pinch of haldi
1 tsp tandoori masala

2 cups basmati rice
2 cups of cauliflower florets
1 cup carrot chopped into 1 inch long pieces
1 cup french beans cut into long pieces
3 eggs
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 medium sized tomatoes pureed
2 onions finely chopped
2 onions cut into rings for making fried onions
1 cup curd (preferably hung curd)
1/2 cup milk

Preparing Rice

Dry roast rice in a hot vessel by stirring constantly to avoid rice from getting burnt. Once rice grains turn brownish in color, empty the vessel into a 

plate. Now pour 6 glasses of water, 1 tsp of ghee in to the vessel and bring to boil. Add 1 tsp of salt,1 inch dalchini,5 cloves(lavang) to boiling water. 

Now add the roasted rice. Boil the rice for 5 minutes.

[Rice should not be completely cooked.Turn off the gas when you find the texture bite like.]

Drain rice using a strainer. Now place the stainer on top of the empty vessel so that excess water will continue to drain off. 

[Remember not to leave the strainer on the kitchen platform or on a plate directly because it will make the bottom rice soggy.]

Rice for biryani is ready.

Preparing fried onions

Add 1 tsp ghee and 1 tsp oil to a frying pan. Add the onions (cut in rings) and fry them until they turn completely brown.During the process, add a pinch of 

salt as it fastens the process.

[Ideally, onions have to be deep fried in a pan full of ghee, it adds extra taste!So do that if you wish to.. but at the expense of few extra calories..]

Preparing eggs

Boil eggs for 10 minutes and remove the shell.Make small cuts on all eggs.Heat a pan and add 1/2 tsp ghee. Fry the egg pieces till they turn slightly 

brownish and add some salt, kali mirch, amchur powder, red chilli powder, 1/4th tsp tandoori masala.Cut each egg into 2 halves length wise and keep aside.

Preparing masala

In the same pan in which you fried eggs, saute beans, cauli flower and carrots on high flame by stirring occasionally for 5 mins. Add some salt, kali mirch, 

amchur powder, red chilli powder, 1/2th tsp tandoori masala,pinch of haldi and fry for another min on high flame.

[The vegetables should not be completely cooked, they should just brown on the edges.]

Grind choti elaichi and nutmeg in a mortar.

Take a deep heavy bottom non stick vessel for cooking biryani.Pour 1 tbsp ghee and 1 tbsp oil in it.Once it is hot,add tej patta,badi elaichi, choti elaichi 

and nutmeg powder,1 inch dalchini,1 tsp shah jeera,1 chakra phool and fry for 2 minutues on low flame.Now add finely chopped onions and fry.

When onions turn golden brown, add ginger garlic paste and fry. Add tomato puree and curd and mix well. Cover the lid and let it cook for 10 mins(till oil separates).

Add the vegetables to masala and fry for 5 mins on high flame.Add salt as per taste.

Optional step for those who want some coconut flavour, add 1/2 cup of coconut milk to the masala and let it simmer for 5 mins.

Dissolve saffron in 1/2 cup of warm milk.

Turn off the stove and move the masala to another vessel. Brush the bottom and sides of biryani vessel with little bit of ghee.

Add half of the semi-boiled rice. Pour 1/4th cup of milk on the rice with a spoon so that it gets equally distributed.

Add half of the masala and spread it evenly over rice. Place all the egg pieces(inner side down) on top of masala. Now add rest of the rice and spread evenly.Pour rest of the milk and masala, spread evenly.

Add fried onions on top, spread evenly.

Cover the lid and put the vessel on low flame (on smallest burner). 

Leave it to took for 25 mins.

Egg Biryani is ready! Will soon be posting the recipe of mirchi ka salan, which is the best accompaniment of Biryani. 🙂

Do try out this recipe and leave a comment!