Recipe : Egg Pulao

We were out of town for the Easter Weekend in Haridwar, where even eggs aren't sold or consumed. Haridwar is one of the Holiest towns in Hinduism with the Holy Ganges flowing through it. For the last few moons, the Kumbh Mela (once in 12 years) has been on at Haridwar and my husband and I really wanted to catch the event before it ends in Mid April.

We drove back on Sunday evening and after the extended vegetarian diet, I really wanted to eat something celebratory and non-vegetarian. Reaching home at 10:30pm, there was no time to defrost meat, so eggs were the fastest option. Plus with it being Easter, eggs seemed like a good choice. But instead of an elaborate dinner like mum had cooked back home, I wanted a one dish meal that I could quickly put together, with time to take a bath before dinner.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups of rice
1 lime
salt to taste

Masala for Grinding :
1 onion
4-5 green chillies
1" ginger
1/2 pod garlic
1 tsp saunf/ fennel seeds
1" cinnamon
2-3 cloves
1-2 cardamom pods.

Method:
Boil the eggs in a pan.
Wash and Soak the rice in water

Clean the cuttings and grind all the masala ingredients together (I used the chopper and chopped everything as fine as it could get)

In a pressure cooker, warm a teaspoon of oil, add the masala and fry till cooked (onion takes time to cook, when ground).

While the masala is frying, shell the eggs (if you immerse eggs in cold water as soon as you take them off the fire and repeat till the water runs cold, the shells will fall apart very easily)

To the fried masala, add the rice, mix well and fry some more.(2-3 minutes)

Add 4 cups water (twice the quantity of rice) and juice of the lemon and salt to taste.
Add the shelled boiled eggs.
Close the cooker and cook till done.
While waiting for the cooker to whistle, make the raita and put it back in the fridge.

While waiting for the pressure to settle (after turning the cooker off) take a quick shower.

Tip: Never force the pressure to escape after cooking rice in a pressure cooker, it will cause a complete mess in the water proportions of the dish

Serve hot with chilled raita - onion+ chilli or boondi or cucumber.

You can garnish with crisply fried onions and fresh chopped corriander (I had emptied the fridge before travelling, so no corriander)