Sometimes, good recipes just come to you when you have but a few ingredients. You make a dish with whatever you have on hand, and it looks like like a dish you should have been making all this while, like the tomato egg coriander stir fry.
So this one morning, after making chapatis, I realised that there was almost nothing to eat it with! Of course, I could dip my chapati in in tea (my favourite way of eating chapatis!), but there were other mouths to feed in the house, and I had to figure out what to do with one onion, one tomato, one egg and a tiny bunch of coriander. Really, at the time I was making the chapatis, I was sure that I had more eggs and tomatoes. As it turned out, I used it all the previous day to make scrambled eggs in spicy tomato sauce. Sigh.
So with no time to rush to the shop because of a hungry toddler by my side, I decided to just plough on with whatever I had on hand. And I’m so glad I did! I mean, really, I could have just soaked the chapatis soaked in tea, and in warm milk for the little one, but the tomato egg coriander stir fry turned out to be a cracking dish that was also healthy.
There was only little though, barely enough for two people. After squeezing in a few shots to put up here, we quickly dug in, and the toddler promptly wanted an encore of the tomato egg coriander stir fry! So the next time I made it, I made double the quantity by doubling a few of the ingredients, and increasing the quantity of the others a little; you’ll find the details in the notes section.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or sunflower oil
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 4 red chillies broken in half or 1/4 teaspoon red chilly powder
- 1 medium onion chopped (100-115 g)
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 medium tomato chopped (about 50-60 g)
- 1 cup coriander fronds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 egg
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Over a medium flame, place a skillet or kadai or wok, and add the oil.
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When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter.
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Right after they do so, add dry red chillies, and then in about 3 seconds, the chopped onion.
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When the onion turns light pink and begins turning golden, add the turmeric and the red chilly powders (if you are not using the whole dry red chillies). Mix them in. If they start sticking to the pan, add a tablespoon of water and mix to ease it.
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After 20 seconds, add the chopped tomato.
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Mix it about; do not cover. After 4 minutes it should be slightly bruised, but not fully cooked. more than half-cooked though.
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Use this time to chop up the coriander fronds. Add it in, along with the salt, and stir. The coriander will reduce in quantity.
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After 5 minutes, add the milk, then break the egg over the tomatoes and coriander stir it in.
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In 4 minutes switch of the heat. The egg will continue to cook in the remaining heat. Continue to mix the eggs in for a further 2 minutes.
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Serving: serve hot or warm with chapatis, dosais or bread.
The recipe above will feed 1-2 hungry tummies. If you want to feed 2-4, then use 2 tablespoons oil instead of 1, 6 red chillies instead of 4, 2 tomatoes instead of 1, 2 cups coriander fronds instead of 1, and a heaped 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons milk, and 2 eggs. The quantity of mustard seeds and turmeric powder remains the same. Also, when you eat the dish, don’t eat those red chillies unless you are used to eating them. They’ve added the required heat to your dish; they’re work is done.
Related Link:
Scrambled Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce (not just spice)