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Perfectly boil eggs

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perfectly boil eggs

Hi everyone. I have started a new section called How To’s in my blog. There I will share some basic tips/ideas on some common tasks that you would encounter while cooking. I hope this new initiative will help those who are new to cooking and also to others.

It is always tricky to boil eggs. I know it’s a very simple task but to get a perfectly boiled egg is akin to finding an oasis in the middle of a desert! I recently came across a novel way of perfectly boiling eggs using an oven. I tried and it did work! And so here is the first post in my How To’s on how to perfectly boil eggs.

First preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the eggs on a muffin tray.

perfectly boil eggs

Place them in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

perfectly boil eggs

Fill a bowl with ice cubes just five minutes before taking out the eggs.

perfectly boil eggs

Add running cold tap water to the bowl and keep it ready.

perfectly boil eggs

After 30 minutes take out the muffin tray and shock the eggs by immediately placing them in the ice filled bowl.

perfectly boil eggs

Take them out, break and peel the shells and tadaaaaa. 🙂

perfectly boil eggs Cut them and have them as you desire.

perfectly boil eggs

Here I have added little salt and pepper.

perfectly boil eggs

Or as a salad by adding them with chopped avocados drizzled with lemon juice, salt and pepper for the perfect breakfast.

perfectly boil eggs

For those who don’t have a conventional oven, you fill the sauce pan with water and add the eggs. Boil them for 15 minutes. Take them out and leave it for 5 minutes. Then shock them and peel the shell. I will add the step by instructions soon. 🙂

perfectly boil eggs

Tirunelveli Pulikuzhambu

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028Tirunelveli always reminds me of so many special memories. I learnt this super dish from my mom’s bestie (and her daughter is my bestie!). We go to Tirunelveli just to visit them and of course to enjoy her food. She always makes this dish whenever we visit them as it is my favorite. (I must say that this is one among many she prepares for the lunch). My mom’s friend is an avid cook. It was very kind of her to share this recipe. I also love her Sothi for which I will post the recipe very soon. Thanks to aunty and my friend, who took the time to ask her mom and e-mail me the recipe.
Tirunelveli pulikuzhambuPulikuzhambu is a tamarind based gravy popular in my home state of Tamilnadu, India. And Tirunelveli pulikuzhambu is one of the best. The key to this recipe is the roasting of spices to the right temper which is then ground to a paste and that forms the base for this gravy. Tirunelveli pulikuzhambu goes very well with rice, idli and dosa.
tirunelveli pulikuzhambuLooks yummy rite? Pulikuzhambu is my most favorite vegetarian gravy and this Tirunelveli variety is at the top of the pecking order. That is mainly because of the taste and the traditional method in which it is prepared. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

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Tirunelveli Pulikuzhambu
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Easy puli kuzhambu made in tirunelveli style for the spicy food lovers and mom to be's.
Ingredients
  • Garlic cloves – 15 nos
  • Shallots – 4 (if small – 6, cut into slits)
  • Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
  • Urad dal – 1 tsp
  • Tamarind – big gooseberry size
  • Gingelly oil – 2 tbs
  • Salt as required
To roast
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tbs
  • Whole black pepper – 12 nos
  • Red chillies – 3
  • Coriander seeds – 1 tbs
  • Split bengal gram/ kadalai paruppu - 1 tbs
  • Raw rice – 1 tsp
  • Fenugreek seeds – ½ tbs (7 to 8 nos)
Instructions
  1. Soak tamarind in a cup of water for 15 minutes and extract the juice.
  2. Heat a tsp of gingelly oil, add and roast the ingredients given above for a couple of minutes until the aroma spreads (simmer it to avoid burning). Allow it to cool and grind along with a shallot and keep it ready.
  3. Heat gingelly oil in a sauce pan and add mustard seeds and urad dal. When it starts to pop, add shallots and garlic cloves. Sauté until onion turn translucent.
  4. Now add in the ground masala and immediately the tamarind juice with enough salt. Mix well and allow it to boil. Switch off the flame when oil separates.
Notes
Add whole garlic cloves to this gravy *WITHOUT* chopping. This gives an added taste. Chopped garlic not so much.

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Pulikuzhambu
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MUTTON GRAVY | MUTTON KUZHAMBU | LAMB CURRY

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002No ginger, no garlic, no tomatoes and yet a delicious dish.
Do any of you know that we could actually make a non vegetarian dish without adding any of those above ingredients? Well here it is!!!
mutton gravyI was not a fan of mutton (besides my mom’s Mutton Chukka) until I tried this delicious mutton gravy at my MIL’s place. She has this traditional cooking style where she uses ammi kal (Flat bed manual grinding stone) to grind all the masalas. This gives an exotic taste which I love. It is a very simple recipe, in fact all you need is mustard seeds, onion and ground masala!
027Here I have used a blender to prepare the masala . My MIL had given me a small ammi kal but I didn’t bring it back with me, which I regret now. Anyways, the outcome was more or less similar to hers and I hope that you enjoy the dish as well.
025Yummy!!!

Print
MUTTON GRAVY | MUTTON KUZHAMBU | LAMB CURRY
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Simple traditional mutton gravy which you wouldn't have tasted anywhere. Make this lip smacking mutton kuzhambu with the simple steps and enjoy.
Ingredients
  • Mutton / Lamb – 1 kg ( 2.12 lb)
  • Gingelly oil – 1 tbs
  • Coriander seeds - 2 tbs
  • Pepper - 10
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tbs
  • Red chillies - 6
  • Grated Coconut- 1 to 2 tbs
  • Ginger – an inch
  • Shallots - 7
  • Vegetable oil - 1 tbs
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. In a sauté pan, roast coriander seeds, pepper, cumin seeds and red chillies with very little oil.
  2. Wait until the mixture cools down. Then grind the mixture and make it into a paste.
  3. Grind coconut separately.
  4. In a pressure cooker, add gingelly oil and sauté the mutton until it turns white color.
  5. Then add crushed ginger along with enough water (2 cups) and pressure cook the mutton for 6 whistles (it takes 15 whistles in India)
  6. Drain the mutton and save the drained water. Add the ground mixtures (coconut & coriander) to the drained water and mix well.
  7. Finally in a sauce pan, add vegetable oil and season it with mustard and onion.
  8. Add the above drained water mixture and allow it to boil.
  9. Then add the cooked mutton along with salt and bring it to boil.

 

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