Potato and Egg masala

This is a great dish to go with chappatis or bread. If you do not add the eggs, it will make a tasty vegetarian side-dish.
It can also be turned into a curry , with ease.

Boiled potatoes - (4 to 5 medium sized ) I usually do this in a pressure cooker, add water to the level of the potatoes, prick each one with a knife, pressure cook to 4 whistles and let cool. Then peel and keep aside.

Hard boiled eggs - (3 -4)

Onion - 1 medium, sliced thin

Green chillies - 2 slit lengthwise


Ginger - 1/2  inch, finely diced

Garlic - 2 cloves (finely diced)

(Alternately, use half a tsp of ginger-garlic paste )

Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Tomatoes - 2 medium - sliced

Fresh coriander leaves -1 bunch  finely chopped

Coconut milk - 2 tbs

Salt to taste

Crushed pepper for garnish - optional.

Temper with Mustard seeds, Split channa dal, and dried red chillies.

To make things easier, I sometimes begin with the tempering. But that is a personal choice. So decide how you would like to do this.

In a kadai, add about 2 tsps cooking oil, add mustard seeds, wait till they split, add the channa dal and dried red chillies and immediately add the onions...
By the time the onions are sauteed well, the channa dal will be done... otherwise,there is a chance that the channa dal might burn.
Add the split green chillies,and the ginger and garlic .
Then the red chillie powder and turmeric powder and immediately add the tomatoes...

Once the tomatoes are cooked down, crush the boiled potatoes roughly, into bite sized pieces, (you can also cut the boiled potatoes into cubes)

Add about a 1/4 glass of water and cook with a lid on, about 7 minutes, this is to infuse all the flavors into the potatoes. Add salt to taste.

Now add the coconut milk and heat through. make sure it does not boil. That may cause the coconut milk to split. (add more water at this point to make more gravy. Do not add more coconut milk instead, unless you want a sweet taste.)

Take off the heat and add the hard boiled eggs cut into halves (optional) and the chopped coriander leaves.  Stir through, very carefully.

Garnish with crushed pepper .