Happy Birthday!

I asked the birthday boy what he wants for his birthday dinner and he promptly replied, "Make egg curry. Or actually, just make dal." Every January 11, for the last 13 years, ever since we've been together, this is all he asks for. Either egg curry or dal (split mung beans or lentil soup) with rotis. And so I cooked both egg curry as well as dal this time.

You remember egg curry, right? A couple months ago, I made "the other egg curry," but today I made the real egg curry- the one with boiled eggs. The method is the same, except that for this one, I make a paste with onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes in the food processor and then fry it in oil after adding some cumin seeds to the hot oil. I fry the paste until all the water evaporates (the water from the onions+tomatoes). I then add a potato followed by water, salt, red chilli powder and garam masala and cover the pot to let the potato cook in the beautiful curry. I meanwhile boil some eggs. After about 10-15 minutes, when the potato is cooked, I slowly drop the boiled eggs (err, peeled, of course!) into the curry. Let everything simmer for another 5 minutes and voila! egg curry is ready!

 Deliciously spicy "Real" Egg Curry

As for the dal- it is pretty simple. I have a short method and a long method.The former version is way faster in that I cook the dal first in a pressure cooker. So that is a grand total of 4 minutes. Whereas the long method involves cooking the dal in a pot, simmering away for at least 45 minutes. So you do the Math! Well, since it was a birthday treat, I followed the long method today.

1. I soaked some split mung beans in water in the morning so that it would be easier to cook them later.

2. I chopped up some onion and smashed up ginger+garlic (yeah, the standard aromatics) and then lightly sauteed this in some oil seasoned with cumin seeds, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.

3. Into this I added the soaked dal with the water. I also threw in a couple chopped tomatoes. After bringing this to a boil, I turned down the heat to low and covered the pot to let it all simmer away.

P.S.: When making dal this way, I watch it on and off, just to make sure that nothing is slipping out of the pot.........

4. After about 30 minutes, I checked to see if the dal was cooked. Thanks to the soaking process that happened in the morning, it was cooked perfect.

5. Finally I added salt to taste (we all  know that rule, don't we?). Done!

Spicy Mung Dal (lentil soup)

To balance out the overdose of protein (eggs and lentils), I had a simple grated carrot salad on the side. The birthday dinner was much enjoyed by the birthday boy as well as by the rest of us.

This time the kids and I got a lovely chocolate pie instead of the traditional cake from the store.

Happy Birthday, Darling!

Note: I should thank my mother-in-law for the dal recipe. And I must also add that she makes the best egg curry and poppy seed rice ever!