Egg and Potato Curry--Deem Aloo Jhol

Growing up in a Bengali household meant lots of rice, fish and vegetables. My mom would cook a lot of different kinds of vegetables, fish, meat and lentils and I wasn't always fond of her concoctions. As I grew up and my tastes have matured, I began to absolutely LOVE anything that was cooked by her and miss it now that I live with my husband and cook my own meals.

I often think back at the different foods that my mother used to put in front of me and my mouth waters and then I go to thinking about the reactions I gave her when she introduced a new item to the family and I can't help but smile. With age comes maturity in everything in life, even food!

That being said, I remember one dish that I NEVER had complains about when I was a child and that was this egg and potato curry. I could eat it every day of the week with plain rice and never get tired to if. It is so hearty, filling and fulfilling in every way possible. Now that I have my own kitchen, it is definitely my fall back option for dinner as the ingredients are always readily available in my house.

A lot of people omit what in my opinion is a very crucial step to the cooking process of this curry--the frying of the eggs rubbed with turmeric. This ensured that the egg has a nice crisp layer over it and helps the gravy cling better to the egg.

I have always enjoyed this and hope you do too!

What were some of your favourite dishes while growing up?

Ingredients
2 tbsp cooking oil
6 hard boiled eggs
2 large potatoes boiled, peeled and roughly broken into chunks
1 large onion chopped
1 tsp each ginger and garlic paste
2 green chillies or to taste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
salt to taste

Method
1) Rub a pinch of turmeric on the hard boiled eggs and brown all the sides on medium heat with just a drizzle of oil.
2) In a large pot, heat the remainder of the oil and drop in the onions.
3) Brown the onions and add the ginger garlic and tomato pastes.
4) Once the mixture starts to sputter, add the green chillies and turmeric, cumin and salt and fry for a few minutes.
5) Add in the eggs and potatoes and after about a minute of stirring, pour in the water.
6) Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat and cook covered for 5-7 minutes more and its done!
7) Serve with plain rice or chappatti.

Happy Cooking!