Sarah's Version of Kerala Style Egg Curry

Matt and I both enjoyed this one although his portion had to have some chicken in it as well as the egg.  Based on Mandy's comment I made a double recipe of it and split it into three after adding the tomatoes so averaging three servings of sauce between two people - it seemed about right. I continued with the recipe adding the eggs, yoghurt etc and have frozen the other two portions.

It was really tasty and I quite like the coconut flavour without having the sometimes overwhelming richness you get with coconut cream curries.

I think I'm going to have to try some more recipes from that book - it was a Christmas present last year and now I've at least made one thing from it!

Mandy's version of Kerala Style Egg Curry

This was pretty easy to make really, although I managed to mess it up somewhat by not cooking the eggs for long enough (5mins from out of the fridge = not even soft boiled). It was amazingly quick also - perfect midweek food. I enjoyed it a lot - very tasty. My only complaint again would be portion size - maybe I just eat too much normally!

Kerala Style Egg Curry

4 eggs

4 tbsp sunflower oil

2 tsp black mustard seeds

2 large onions, finely sliced

3-4 garlic cloves, sliced

4-5cm piece of ginger peeled and chopped

4 fresh chillies halved lengthwise

2 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp cumin seeds

3 tbsp dessicated cocnut

salt and pepper

4 plump tomatoes or 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

250ml thick yoghurt

fresh coriander for garnish

basmati rice to serve

Place eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Drain and rinse under cold running water until cool.  Peel and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan until hot.

Add the mustard seeds and when they start to pop lower the heat, add the onion and fry until soft and golden.

Add the garlic, ginger, chillies, turmeric, cumin, coconut, salt and pepper and fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes and eggs and stir gently until heated through then remove from the heat.

Stir the yoghurt through, cover and stand for 2 minutes.

Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve with basmati rice.

Recipe serves four people and is from Entertaining Vegetarians by Celia Brooks Brown.

Anna's update on Bun Bo

I had Bun Bo Nam Bo here in Hanoi. The serving is quite small and they probably did only have 100g of beef for 2 people. The "salad greens" they used was a small amount of lettuce to line the bowl and then vietnamese mint and coriander. It also had quite a bit of vinegary sauce that you poured over (a lot more than the recipe sounds like it makes). I ate it by mixing it together as eating which made the coriander and mint mix through and were really nice. I will attempt to make this one when I get back.

P.S. Sarah's version is called something else, Bo means Beef. I'm yet to quite work out what Tofu is. I have takeaway Bun Cha (pork version) for dinner on the train tonight.

Sarah's Version of Bun Bo

Well, I'm glad Mandy tried this first - I too thought putting noodles and stir fry over mixed salad was a bit weird.  Instead of mixed greens I used shredded baby spinach because I thought that would just wilt down somewhat with the hot noodles on it instead of going as weird as I imagine lettuce etc would.

I used deep fried tofu cubes instead of steak which meant that the deglaze the pan bit doesn't work quite so well - I just added a bit more sauce to compensate.

I forgot to buy bean sprouts so I used some sliced green beans instead which were good for a bit of colour as Matt's version without them looked very monotonous.  

Matt's version (with steak) worked out well and he thought it was tasty.  However, he also thought that 100g of steak between two people wasn't enough and used probably twice that for one person.

When I do this again I think I'll just add the shredded spinach or an asian green at the end of cooking instead of having it in the bottom of the bowl.

The fried shallot, roast peanut and sesame seed combo on top was brilliant and I'm definitely going to use that on other dishes.

Sarah's Version of Zucchini, Spinach and Mint Soup with Goat's Cheese Croutes

This was an incredibly tasty soup.  Due to Matt's food idiosyncrasies (soup is not a meal, will not eat zucchini) I didn't have to share this one.  I made the soup up in the evening for lunch the next day and the only thing that seemed to suffer was the colour.  When first blended, the mint and spinach made a vibrant green but the oxidation overnight meant it was a little duller at lunch the next day.  The toast with goat's cheese was a great idea and I think I'll try it with other soups as well.

The recipe doesn't state what to do with the lemon so I just added the juice at the end of cooking after it was blended.  It'd be interesting to know if it was supposed to be the zest as well.

No picture because I thought people at work might look at me oddly if I start photographing my lunch! (and I forgot the camera.)

Mandy's version of Bun Bo

This one I'm afraid I was not a big fan of. The meat and beansprout stirfry part was lovely but the texture of that and the noodles on top of the cold salad and coriander just didn't do it for me. It was extremely easy and quick to cook though, and even though I didn't have the peanuts on top it had great flavour. I may do it again but just without the salad bits!

It may be worth noting that the portion sizes in the recipe are pretty tiny. I cooked the recipe as written (2 servings) and served them in the one bowl.

Mandy's version of Wonton Soup

These were quite fun if a bit fiddly. I couldn't find dried shiitake mushrooms so did without. I think if I was doing it again I'd probably have just stuck it all in the food processor to make the filling instead of chopping it by hand.


I really enjoyed the dumplings although they are quite tricky to eat. I probably only ate about half of the soup as it was quite bland - good comfort food though. I'd intended, like Anna, to have some greens with it but by the time I'd remembered it was too late!

Mandy's version of Herbed Potato Gnocchi with Chunky Tomato

OK - today I'm having my own mini cookery day. First up - the gnocchi from a few weeks back.


I'm generally not a big fan of gnocchi which was why I was very surprised when these came out really nice. I guess it might be the parmesan (I did use quite a lot!). The sauce was really good too. I understand now what Anna meant though - the consistency wasn't really very "sauce" like. But it went well with the gnocchi and tasted quite sweet and tangy. Also I loved the chewyness of the sun-dried tomatoes. Although I only made one portion of gnocchi I did make the whole 4 portions of sauce - that will be going with some pasta later in the week!

Sarah's Version of Won Ton Soup

Yum yum,

I made the mix with rehydrated soy protein and used about twice the quantity of dehydrated mushrooms.  Matt's mix did not have the mushrooms.

It took a little while to get the knack of twisting the wontons together so the later ones definitely looked nicer, although they all looked decidedly like wrapped up brains once cooked.

We had them with a chinese scallion bread, in an attempt to replicate a bread we tried in China, this was also really good but rather unhealthy (as it was fried) and very time consuming.

Next time Matt wants to try the wontons deep fried as well as having the soup, and I think Anna's idea of some greens to balance out the meal is a good one.

Anna's Version of Won Ton Soup

I didn't remember to take photos this time. I made the stock and it was good, although I did forget to add the soy sauce and the sesame oil. We had it with Choy Sum with oyster sauce which went well and added a bit of greens. The combination of the contents of the won tons was really good. I'll make this again.