Recipe: Kundapuri Egg Ghee Roast

Before we left Guwahati, we invited a whole lot of my husbands colleagues over for dinner, around 40 of them. As usual, I cooked everything from scratch and without household help (I hate having help inside the house and avoid it at all costs)

The trick to cooking for such a large group by yourself is to keep your recipes simple, with minimal preparation like grinding fresh masalas or prepare ahead. Some masalas can be frozen, coconut can be ground and frozen and defrosted for using on the day of the dinner. Non vegetarian food can be prepared ahead, but vegetarian food needs to be cooked on the day that you are serving it, otherwise it will lose texture and taste. Pork can be cooked upto 3-4 days in advance, chicken and mutton can be marinated a day or 2 ahead and cooked / baked / roasted on the day of the dinner. If you plan well a week in advance, you too can cook festive meals for 40-50 people at home.

One of the dishes I like to cook is the Egg Ghee Roast. This is quick to prepare once the eggs are boiled and shelled. Ghee Roast is a recipe that comes from Kundapur - a town close to Mangalore and yes, in this recipe you can't stint on the ghee which gives the dish its name and its flavour!

Ingredients:
40 eggs - hardboiled, shelled with little slits in them to allow the masala to seep through
6 tbsp chilli powder (increase / decrease for taste)
3 tbsp corriander powder

2 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 tbsp ginger paste
4 tbsp garlic paste

pinch of fenugreek (methi) powder
sprig of curry leaves
5 tbsp ghee
5 tbsp curd - gently beaten to a  smooth paste

For smaller quantity:
6 eggs - hardboiled, shelled with little slits in them to allow the masala to seep through
1 tbsp chilli powder (increase / decrease for taste)

1 tsp corriander powder
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
pinch of turmeric powder

1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
pinch of fenugreek (methi) powder

4-5 curry leaves
1 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp curd - gently beaten to a  smooth paste

Method:
In a pan, heat the ghee and add the curry leaves for tempering.
Add ginger and garlic pastes and fry till almost cooked
Add all the other ingredients except the eggs and curd and fry till cooked.
Lower the heat and add the curd and whisk gently until the ghee seperates.

If it gets too dry, add a few drops of water to moisturise.
Then toss the boiled and shelled eggs in the masala.

Serve hot with rotis, polis or rice and dhal.

 This recipe can be used to cook chicken too.

My friend May, has a slightly different recipe for chicken ghee roast, I'm going to try her version too once I have my own kitchen again.

And if you are interested, here is a glimpse of the rest of the dinner that I cooked for 40 people.