Kerala egg roast with appam
Kerala's mutta roast: boiled eggs in a thick, dark masala of onions fried slowly in coconut oil with ginger, garlic, curry leaves, Kashmiri chilli and fennel, eaten with appam, the rice and coconut pancakes that are soft and spongy in the middle and thin, lacy and crisp at the edges. The appam batter is ground the evening before (soak the rice in the afternoon) and rises overnight; on a busy weekday many homes eat the roast with rice, idiyappam or parotta instead.
- 1 h 25Time
- 1 h 17Hands-on
- 4Portions
- 23 gprotein per portion
- 790kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 8Eggs
- 4 tbspCoconut oil
- 4Onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tbspGinger, finely chopped
- 6 clovesGarlic, finely chopped
- 2Green chillies, slit
- 2 sprigsCurry leaves
- 2Tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbspKashmiri chilli powder
- 2 tspCoriander powder
- 3 mlTurmeric
- 3 mlFennel seeds, powdered
- 3 mlBlack pepper, freshly ground
- to tasteSalt
- ≈ 150 mlWater, hot
- 3 mlGaram masala
On the side
- 300 gRice, raw rice (pachari), soaked for 4–5 hours
- 100 gGrated coconut, fresh or frozen
- 30 gRice, cooked soft, or a handful of leftover rice
- 2 tbspSugar
- 3 mlDried yeast
- ≈ 300 mlWater, for the batter
- 1 tspCoconut oil, for the pan
Method
- The evening before, drain the soaked rice and grind it in the mixie with the coconut, cooked rice, sugar and the water for the batter until smooth. Stir in the yeast, cover and leave in a warm place overnight to rise. It should be a little thinner than dosa batter.
- Thinly slice the onions, finely chop the ginger and garlic, slit the green chillies and chop the tomatoes.
- Put the eggs in a pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil.
- Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, then cool them in cold water.
- Meanwhile, heat the coconut oil in a kadai or heavy pan. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and fry on a medium flame, stirring often, until soft and golden brown, 15–18 minutes.
- Peel the eggs and make three or four shallow slits in each.
- Add the ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves and fry for 2 minutes, until the raw smell goes.
- Lower the heat and stir in the Kashmiri chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric, fennel powder and pepper with a splash of water. Stir for a minute without letting the spices burn.
- Add the tomatoes and salt and cook, mashing them with the back of the ladle, until they break down and the oil separates, about 6 minutes.
- Pour in the hot water, add the eggs and turn them in the masala. Cover and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes, until the roast is thick and dark and clings to the eggs. Sprinkle over the garam masala.
- Stir the appam batter, which should be risen and bubbly, and add salt. Heat an appachatti (appam pan) on medium heat and wipe it with a little oil. Pour in a small ladle of batter and swirl the pan at once so it coats the sides thinly and stays thick in the middle. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes, until the edges are crisp and lacy and the centre is set. Lift out and make the rest the same way, about 14 appams.
- Serve the egg roast with the hot appams.
