Sunday, April 24, 2016

Sunday Lunch

Remember these from yesterday?

Burnt Hard Boiled Eggs

After my initial dismay, I wondered what I could do with them besides feeding them to the stray cats in my garden.  And then I knew.  I'd make one of my favorite dishes: deep fried egg curry!  First of all, there is an actual thing called a deep fried egg curry, sometimes also called fried egg curry.  If you do an on-line search, you'll find several versions of the recipe.  Of course, normally, one starts out with regular hard boiled eggs that have been peeled, not burnt ones!  The directions are the same, however.

First, I pricked each egg all over with the tines of a fork (to prevent the egg from exploding in the hot oil).  Then, heated some oil in a deep frying pan (I used a traditional Sri Lankan frying pan which is shaped like a small wok) and fried the eggs until golden brown:



Boiled Egg Being Deep Fried

I fried the eggs individually until all three were done:



Deep Fried Hard Boiled Eggs

 I left them to drain on some paper towels and made the curry gravy.

 First, I sauted some sliced onions, a couple of cloves of garlic, and a few curry leaves in a bit of oil:


Onions, Garlic and Curry Leaves Being Sauted

Then, I added a heaping teaspoon of dark roasted curry powder and a level teaspoon of chili powder:




Curry Powder and Chili Powder Added


Opened a can of coconut milk:




Canned Coconut Milk

  And added it to the mixture in the pan and let it cook a bit:






With Coconut Milk Added



Then, added the deep fried eggs to the curry gravy and added salt and lemon juice to taste:


Deep Fried Egg Curry


We've all heard of the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".  My variation of that is, "When life gives you burnt eggs, make deep fried egg curry!"  :D


To accompany the eggs, I made some sauted cabbage.  I know I posted how to make it, earlier, but I took some new pictures today, too.  So, first, shred the cabbage:



Shredded Cabbage

Saute in a bit of oil, with dark roasted curry powder, salt, etc.:





Saute with Curry Powder, etc.


Cook for a few minutes:

 

Sauted Cabbage


Since I had some oil left over in the frying pan after deep frying the eggs, I decided to fry some lentil flour wafers, known as pappadum (many variations of how it is spelled):

 


Uncooked Pappadum

I broke each pappadum in half to fit my frying pan and the amount of oil I had.  It takes only a few seconds to fry each piece and it expands a bit as it fries:



Pappadum Being Fried


I drained the fried pappadum on a piece of paper towel.  Once fried, they can be stored in an air-tight container for several days, so I fried a few extra pieces:




Fried Pappadum

All that was left to do was open a jar of my homemade tomato chutney:


Homemade Tomato Chutney

Warm up the rice I had in the fridge, and serve myself a plate of lunch:

Sunday Lunch

It was very good.  The eggs didn't taste burnt, at all.  They just tasted like regular deep fried egg curry.  And I have enough leftovers for at least two more meals.  All I need to do is cook some fresh rice.

Apart from cooking Sunday lunch, I did a load of laundry in the morning, and watered the back garden in the evening (it had been a bit cloudy and overcast, and I was hoping it would rain, but it didn't).  I will probably wash another load of laundry before I go to sleep.

One of my friends had said she might visit me today (in fact, I had cooked a bit extra thinking she might join me for lunch and there was a package of chicken curry in the freezer if she didn't care for my fried egg curry), but she called later in the afternoon to say she wasn't able to visit, after all.   The aunt who visited last night called to see how I was, which was very sweet of her.  I will be video chatting with daughter, a bit later in the evening. 

Today, I am grateful for:

- Knowing how to rescue my burnt eggs!
- A lovely Sunday lunch.
- Plenty of leftovers for the week
- Phone calls and video chats
- Being able to fit back into a pair of pants I had held onto for years!

How was your Sunday?  What did you have for Sunday lunch?

19 comments:

  1. I am so going to have to try this! I love the resourcefulness - and that curry gravy looks awesome! Thank you for sharing! x

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    1. You are welcome! Hope you try it and like it.

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  2. I'd like to try that meal! I haven't seen anything like it before, but it does look like my kind of food, albeit with less chili. ;)

    Jazz

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    1. I think you'd have enjoyed it. Can definitely adjust the amount of chili to make it milder. Also, one can use just regular hard boiled eggs in the curry, without having to deep fry them.

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  3. You saved your burned eggs and didn't have any food waste! Woohoo! I'm fascinated to read about cooking food from Sri Lanka. I only have "regular" curry powder in my pantry and I'm not sure if we have any ethnic stores in the Clermont area that would sell dark roasted curry or curry leaves. I guess I should try that spice and tea store that I visited in Mount Dora. I need more of the delicious green peach tea anyway. Who would have thought that I would be craving curried deep fried eggs for breakfast? ha!

    I hope you have a lovely Monday!

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    1. You can use regular curry powder, too. It's just that I prefer the more intense flavor of the dark roasted curry powder. And, you can substitute a couple of dried bay leaves for the curry leaves, if you like. The flavor won't be the same, but it should be OK. :)

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  4. Very smart! I would have just thrown the eggs out, it probably wouldn't even have crossed my mind to use it for something else.

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    1. I think most people would have thrown them out. If they had tasted scorched, I would have tossed them, myself, but they tasted fine to me.

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  5. Bless, you really are something else! That was an ingenious way to save those eggs and your meal looks delicious! I always enjoy seeing your meals because there are so many things that I have never heard of before.
    There must be something going around because yesterday I was steaming veggies and I also forgot about it until I started smelling a burning smell. Luckily the veggies were in the top pot so they were ok, but I have been soaking the bottom pot since yesterday and it is still black. I've done this before (sadly!) so I know that I will be able to scrape the burnt part off the pot eventually.
    Hope you have a wonderful week! :)

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    1. Dawn, try this to get the burnt stuff off your pot: sprinkle baking soda to cover the burnt stuff, add about an inch of water and a drop of dish washing liquid. Then, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and let it soak. It is supposed to loosen the burnt on stuff, making it easier to scrape it off.

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    2. Dawn, empty the water and liberally sprinkle the bottom of your pan with baking soda. Then sprinkle some water on it to form a paste. Then let it sit for a while. I usually let it sit overnight. If that still doesn't work, try buying one of the Scotch's Extreme Scrub sponges (they're purple). That stuff is magical. I talked about it and posted a picture of it there http://imperfectlyfrugally.blogspot.com/2016/01/frugal-successes-and-failures-wednesday_13.html

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    3. Bless, Thank You!! I am going to do this right now. A million thanks!! :)

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    4. You are welcome. Hope it works. Nathalie has made a suggestion, too, so you can try that as well, if you need to. :)

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    5. Nathalie, thanks a million to you too! What would I do without you ladies? :)
      I tried Bless's suggestion and got most of it off. I am going to now use your suggestion and that should finish the job!
      Thank you both very much- I really do appreciate your help and that you cared enough to give me this advice! :)

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  6. Bless.. fantastic... You saved your burnt eggs. And got a wonderful lunch out of them.. Sounds so good... I have never had curry, but you are enticing me to try some. I am going to buy some curry powder when I go grocery shopping.
    Proud you have had a good day.. Hope your week is good too.Did you sleep better last night? Hope so.

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    1. Judy, I hope you try some curry and like it.

      Yes, I slept well, last night, thank you. And took a nap this afternoon, as well.

      Hope you have a great week.

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  7. I don't have to worry about burning eggs because one day my husband bought me an electric egg cooker, (what I actually was wanting at the time was just a simple pan with poached egg inserts). This fancy gadget turned out to be a favourite of mine because it will also make soft or hard-boiled eggs according to how much water you put into it. I use it all the time for boiled eggs and when we spent 3 years in Europe, we even bought an inexpensive one there to add to the furnished apartment. We love egg salad sandwiches, too!
    Bushlady

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    1. Maybe I should look into getting one for myself! Daughter did ask me what I wanted for Mother's Day! :D

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