Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A thoran and Egg situation…


When I was a little kid and comparatively new to the world of sin and crime, there were occasional instances where I had my brush with unlawful activities….like stealing toffees from the fridge or mom’s wallet….And apparently I was taught by the nuns in sunday class that all you need to confess it during confession to negate any after effects and maintain status quo….So it happened that this jolly good fella confessed one day to the priest…

“achoo….njan mutaayi kattu eduthu”

What followed was a lengthy sermon….

makane…ee mutta eke ellavarkkum vendi ullathu alle…karthavvu orortharkkum arhikumbol mutta kodukkum……”

“but actually achoo….”

“ee thettinnu prayachittam aayittu….”

“but..achoo..muttaaa…….”

“entha mone ..nee ethra mutta kattu eduthathu….”

achoo…njan mutta alla eduthathu…muttayyiyaaaaaa….”

I don’t remember what exactly transpired after that…but the achan had a lengthy pause….and I couldn’t stop laughing thinking this priest was assuming that I stole eggs all this time..

But history as is…Following the heartbreaking confession, I took a sudden liking for egg…probably it has to do with the remarkable similarity in shape with numbers that adorned in my progress report…Or it could be due to the fact that I was hen pecked as a little kid to eat more nutritious food… And to this day I have been laying my eyes on any kozhimutta or any kozhi planning to lay one in the vicinity.. To put it simply, Kozhimutta and me is epitome of a harmonious partnership that has withstood the test of time and the only crack in our relation was when I occasionally needed a bulls eye!

Dear readers, while the eggonomic benefits of consuming eggs during recession time should not be overlooked, we have to be careful not to put all eggs in one basket… Every egg has a character and personality of its own. A good egg connoisseur can make out which egg has to be boiled, which one has to be scrambled and which one is bulls eyed. Though only a few aashans are still alive who can claim to possess these skills, our state is lucky since a few in my family are the finest connoisseurs I know…If you think I am joking about how serious we are about eggs, even the place we settled down in Trivandrum was chosen after a lot of considerations, pondering over muttashasthra….at Muttada….

Although the mistake which happened to the priest as mentioned earlier in the post was a linguistic confusion, its true to an extend that humans have affinity to steal eggs. That’s why in Kerala the most reported thefts are eggs especially from kallu shaaps and hostel messes.. Infact people who could steal eggs from our college canteen were looked at with immense respect by juniors and professors alike. People used to line up in the streets to watch these folklore heroes walk up to the nearby restaurant where they sell their prized catches!!

Friends I can write eulogies about egg and its influence in our culture and heritage…but since it’s a food blog I ll rather share with you all a egg dish which was served for the French aristocracy during the times of Napoleon. It’s a exquisite French dish but MAY sound like a Kerala dish….anyways….


Hard boil 6-7 eggs, peel off the skin and slice into small pieces…
Heat vegetable oil on a cooking pan and sauté 3 big onions until they are transparent
Add 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste, 3 thin sliced green chilies and plenty of curry leaves..
Once the raw smell of ginger is gone and the onions started browning, reduce the heat and add 2 tsp pepper powder, 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder, 1.5 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder and half tsp garam masala, salt to taste.
Sauté the entire mixture on medium flame until the masala’s are cooked..
Now add the sliced egg and crush it along with the onion mix using a spatula, Allow the egg yolk to get crushed and blend it suitably with the onion-spice mix…
Once the masala’s are coated properly garnish it with coriander leaves and cook in a low flame for 2 min.

The egg thoran is ready and is a lip smacking combo with rice and curd…

I must say it’s a very difficult recipe for people who are not versed with the nuances of cooking food…but maybe all you need is beginner’s egg…err…luck!! :-D

13 comments:

Ria Mathew said...

Mathayiee...bhayangara kumbasaram thanne! LOL! Muttayi kallan became a motta kallan ( I just cant say mutta, it is motta for me always!)Good read as always!

And your pics are improving :) Motta thoran looks yumm :)

thomas said...

Hehe, reminds me of dad's dialogue when I ask him for christmas present during the christmas holidays,

Christmas presento? Christmas pareekshayude mark varumbol ninakkoru aana motta kittumallo. Athu nammakke present aayittangedukkaam.

Anonymous said...

Ohh I luv Mutta thoran....
Being a working mom's daughter such easy make shift recipe were part of our daily menu which later on became comfort food for me :)
U shuld write more often on this blog !!!

Pramod Abraham said...

I Liked the Eggonomics. The second pic looks good!

Dreamer said...

"a egg dish which was served for the French aristocracy during the times of Napoleon"...but of course, curry leaves have formed an integral part of any authentic French dish since time immemorial :D The pics look yummy, though. Methinks should try out this eggsperiment.

mathew said...

@Ria
ishoo..athu pandu…ippo njan oru saint polle aanu…:-P
even I say motta instead of mutta….i am often made fun of coz of that..;-)

@Thomacha
hehe….neeyum enne pole aanu alle…njan ethra motta kandu irrikunnu…..ella appanmaa-rum ingane aanello..shallyam..!! So you don’t really have to buy easters eggs too…don’t you!!

@Anon
oh yeah..same here….since both mom and dad are working in my home too… :-)
.But I have been making this more often since I have come to Germany….
I ll try to write more often here….just don’t make anything special other than the regulars these days…next chayya undakunathu aakkam…:-P

@Pramod
hahaha…I should have known earlier that you would like eggonomics..:-P

@Dreamer
:-P
I have close friends in Paris who are descendants of napoleon…hic...hic….even authentic cordon bleu has curry leaves…only yesterday they told be about it….:-P

Divz said...

ohhhh mathew....u made me roll with laughter with ur mutta story!! the only blog i read(valli pulli vidathe) is urs...

Unknown said...

I thought thoran was a dish with grated coconut as a chief ingredient...

Will try it out once I'm inside a kitchen, another 3-4 months to go for that....

Bharathy said...

LOL!!!...Mathew..all I did now was LAUGH HEARTILY.. :)!!..
Great read, as always :)...

Tina said...

Mathayicha motta kalla... .kumbasara rahasyam parasyamakiyallooooooo.....endayalum Mutta thoran looks yummy....

harimohan said...

mathew
great post
i do this egg curry all the time but with tomatoe and coconut milk without pepper it is yummy

Usha said...

:) good one!! :)

I'm also in the process of becoming a staunch eggitarian. There's this new thing we try out now, after getting inspired by some creation we got to check out at this place called the "Egg Factory" around here. I guess that's where I got baptised to be an eggitarian. though Mummy claims her brother used to do that when he used to hang around in hostels n stuff some 35 years back :|

you might want to try this one out too, if you're a fan of eggs n all. heat oil, throw in mustard n curry leaves, ginger, garlic, finely chopped green chillies. saute finely chopped onion in it till it becomes translucent, add finely chopped tomatoes n saute till it gets a lil pasty, add chicken curry masala (heehee.. yeah that's cheating, alright!) and pepper n salt n now add the eggs the way you do for scrambled eggs n go scramble the whole thing up. you do all this in low flame. tadaa!!
aagh! why do all the egg dishes sound so 'yeah-i-know-that' ish. :| i swear, this was hatke!!

Jina said...

Kollallo mottakkalla..:P

Im going to try this soon

Wish me eggers luck