This is one of those 'last-minute-slap-dash' recipes that are pretty much my trademark. Sometimes those are the best kind of recipes. Here's how it happened...
One dark morning, I stumbled out of bed at 5.30am to try and find something my hubby could take to work for lunch, and there was just nothing. No bread, no leftovers, just a few basic ingredients and some eggs. My fuzzy brain did a quick search and came up with 'egg curry'. I dug through the cupboard looking for the curry powder, but it was all gone. Typical. That'll teach me to menu plan more carefully. Okay, no big deal - I had the basic ingredients for a curry powder and I had a Thermomix! So I revved up Thermie and quickly ground some spices to make some homemade curry powder, using the recipe in the Indian cookbook. (No, the kids didn't wake up - they're used to me Thermomixing at all sorts of odd hours!) Then I made a quick egg curry. Hubby was out the door and on his way by 6am, and I stumbled back to bed.
So a month or so ago I shared this simple recipe on Facebook, and was surprised to find that lots of people loved it! I hadn't blogged it because it didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary... but maybe that's why people like it. It's simple, tasty, quick, and cheap. And really, that's what most of us want for everyday meals - right? Now and then a fancy meal, but mostly it's 'get it on the table and get 'em fed with as little fuss as possible'!
Have a look at the variations at the end if you'd rather chicken instead of eggs, or more veges, or a vegetarian version.
Quick Egg Curry with Quinoa
1. Curry powder: if you want to make your own, do that first. You can of course just use bought curry powder, but homemade has lots of flavour, and no anti-caking agents. The recipe I use is the Madras Curry Powder from the Thermomix Indian Cookbook but I leave the salt out. Or I just use the Garam Masala recipe from the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook - that's nice too, and very simple.
2. Coconut milk: if you're not in a hurry and you really want to go back to basics, you can make your coconut milk first. This saves money, and it's very simple. Here's how.
- Grind up 300g dried, shredded coconut for 10 seconds on speed 8 (in the Thermomix). You can use fresh coconut instead if you have it.
- Add 1200g water and cook for 15-20 minutes at 100C, speed 4 - until the temperature reaches 100C. (If using fresh coconut, only add 900g water.)
Blend on speed 8 for 30 seconds; strain through a nut milk bag. (I use tongs to squeeze the milk out because it's hot!)
[Optional: Return the pulp to the Thermomix bowl, add another 1200g of water, and repeat. You'll have a thick milk and a thinner milk. You can either mix them, or just use the thinner milk in smoothies/baking. ]
If you like, you can also dehydrate the pulp in a dehydrator for 6 hours on low temp, then grind it for 2 minutes speed 9 to make coconut flour! But I'm getting off the track here, back to the egg curry...
3. Quinoa & eggs: The next step is to cook the quinoa and eggs.
Weigh water into bowl:
- 900g water
Add rice basket and weigh dry quinoa into basket. (Don't stress if a little bit falls through the holes - not much will.)
- 300g white quinoa
[Note: Most of the quinoa I've bought is pre-rinsed, it doesn't have a bitter taste. If it's not pre-rinsed (or you're not sure), rinse well in a fine strainer under running water for a couple of minutes, rubbing grains through your fingers to remove saponins. (That's the natural bug-deterrant on quinoa that makes it taste bitter.) Soaking quinoa: If you're thinking ahead, you can weigh the dry quinoa into a Thermoserver or other dish, cover with water and a tsp of apple cider vinegar, and leave to soak over night or for a few hours.]
Wash eggs well and place on top of quinoa, in the rice basket:
- 6 eggs, organic free range
[OR place the eggs in the Varoma if you don't like the idea of them being in with the quinoa. But it's perfectly fine, as long as the eggs are clean. Some people grind up eggs shells and add them to food for a calcium supplement - egg shells are non-toxic!]
Cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature, speed 4.
Remove eggs from quinoa with tongs (scrape off the quinoa) and set aside. Tip quinoa into Thermoserver or covered serving dish to stay warm. Rinse & dry bowl.
4. Curry sauce: (don't worry, this is quick!)
Chop onion, garlic and coriander in Thermomix bowl on speed 5 for 3 seconds.
- 1 brown onion, halved
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- a handful fresh coriander (or parsley)
Add olive oil or ghee and cook at 100C, 2 minutes, speed 1:
- 30g olive oil or ghee
Add curry powder and lemon juice. Cook 100C, 2 minutes, speed 1:
- 2-4 Tbspns curry powder (depending how hot you like it)
- 1 Tbspn lemon
Add coconut milk/cream, vege stock paste and frozen peas, and cook 5 minutes, 100C, reverse speed 1:
- 400g coconut cream or milk
- 1 Tbspn vege stock paste
- 150g peas (frozen is fine)
Meanwhile, peel eggs and cut into quarters. Arrange on top of quinoa. When curry sauce is ready, pour over the quinoa and eggs, and serve.
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Variations: You could easily jazz this up a bit by steaming chicken breast pieces in the Varoma on top while the quinoa is cooking, as well as a bunch of sliced veges. Or you could add in any leftover veges from the night before instead of the frozen peas - I tend to do things like that. If you can't have eggs, just leave them out and use chicken or veges instead. Maybe add a tin of chickpeas with the veges. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Hope you like it! :)
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