Sanket's kitchen

Surati eggs gotalo

This recipe is another version of scrambled egg. However, its a little bit more complicated than simple scrambled eggs. This is the original and authentic recipe coming directly from the owner of an egg stall in Surat, Gujarat (India). Since I frequented this place during my college, I've an emotional attachment with this recipe.

Ingredients:

Eggs - 6 (3 for boiling and 3 for half-frying)
Oil - 2 tbsp (1 for frying eggs and 1 for later use)
Butter - 1 tbsp
For paste - Garlic - 3 pods, Ginger - 1" piece, Green chili - 1
Salt - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Powder spices - turmeric - 1 tsp, red chili powder - 1 tsp, cumin-coriander powder - 2 tsp, garam masala - 1 tsp
Tomatoes - 2 chopped
Water - 1/2 cup
Chopped cilantro - about 2 tbsp

Recipe:

Step 1 - Preparation: This is important so as to avoid any rush while cooking.
Boil 3 eggs - these boiled eggs are used to shred over curry in step 3;
Make a paste from ginger, garlic and green chili (GGG paste);
Put all the powder spices in a small bowl;
Finely chop tomatoes and put it in a bowl; add water to chopped tomatoes;

Step 2 - Making eggs 'half-fry': Heat 1 tbsp oil on a medium heat in a non-stick pan. Once heated, gently crack open the eggs into pan (be gently enough to avoid breaking yolk). Evenly spread half of ginger-garlic-green chili (GGG) paste on the top of each of 3 eggs. Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp salt and half of the powder spices over eggs. With a spoon, collect some oil from the side of pan and drizzle it over eggs to fry GGG paste and spices. Now add 1 tbsp chopped coriander on top of eggs. Your half fry is ready when egg white becomes opaque white in color (roughly 10 minutes). Slide over these eggs 'half-fry' into another plate.

Step 3 - Making curry for gotado: Heat butter and remaining 1 tbsp oil on a medium heat in the same pan used to make half-fry. Once butter melts, add rest of GGG paste and sauté for about a minute. Now add chopped tomatoes (without water, use water for later) and mix well. Let tomatoes cook for about 5 minutes (till it gets soft and mushy). Keep stirring in between. Crush tomatoes with spatula after it becomes soft. Now add 1 tbsp salt and remaining powder spices. Fry spices for couple of minutes. Now add water (in which tomatoes were kept) to it. Mix well and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Now shred boiled eggs over curry with a shredder and mix well. Add cilantro and simmer for additional 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Step 4 - Making gotado: Pour curry onto a flat bottomed bowl. Put egg-half-fry on the top of curry and mix everything together using two spatulas. Use your spatulas imagining as if using a knife to chop onions.

Serve with toasted buns or bread.

Enjoy!

Note:

1. Health tip - Since it is a very rich dish, discard 2 eggs yolks from boiled eggs to cut down your cholesterol intake. You may discard it altogether but I think using one egg yolk gives a good texture to this recipe.

2. Since this recipe is very fast paced, I would suggest to prepare all ingredients beforehand in order to avoid rush while cooking.

Egg curry

Ingredients: 

Eggs - 9
Onions - 3 small or 2 medium - finely chopped
Tomatoes - 1 large - finely chopped
Garlic - 5 cloves
Ginger - 1" piece
Green chili - 1
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon stick - 1" piece
Powder spices - Turmeric - 1/2 tsp, Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp, cumin-coriander powder - 2 tsp, garam masala - 1 tsp.
Salt - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Water - 1 cup

Recipe:

Step 1 - Boil the eggs - peel them - and vertically cut it into half.

Step 2 - Make paste from garlic, ginger and green chili in a food processor.

Step 3 - Making curry: Heat oil in a pan on a high heat. Once oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Add bay leaves and cinnamon stick after cumin seeds start to sizzle. Now lower the heat to medium, and add onions. sauté onions for about 10 minutes (till they turn brownish, become sticky and start to ooze oil). Now add ginger-garlic-green chili paste. Sauté for about 2 minutes (till raw smell of garlic is gone). Now add tomatoes to pan and sauté for about 5 minutes (till they become mushy and gravy start to ooze oil). If tomatoes start to stick at the bottom of pan, keep adding 1 or 2 tbsp of water in between. Now add all the powder spices, mix well and fry the spices for about 2 minutes. Do not let the powder spices burn at any cost (lower the heat if needed, add few tsp of water if needed). Now add rest of the cup of water, mix well and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Now add boiled eggs to curry, cover the lid and let it simmer on low-medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Your spicy egg curry is ready. Serve hot with Indian bread or plain rice or khichdi.

Enjoy!

Pizza

Ingredients:

For making dough -
Wheat flour - 3/4 cup
All purpose flour (maida) - 3/4 cup
Corn flour - 1/4 cup
Olive oil - 1 tsp
Warm water - 1/2 cup (use sparingly to make dough with desired consistency)
Salt - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Yeast - active dry vs instant (available in most gorcery stores)

For pizza topping - There are unlimited options. I used to following ones:
Pizza sauce - 1 cup
Onions - 1 thin sliced
Mushrooms - 1 cup
Bell pepper - sliced - 1 cup
Mozzarella cheese - shredded - 1 cup (preferably fresh ball of cheese available in most grocery stores)

Recipe: 

Step 1: Activating yeast - For active dry yeast only. There's no need to activate instant yeast.
Use about 1/2 cup lukewarm water (not too hot, not too cold). Add about 1 tbsp sugar. Mix well. Now add yeast, mix well and cover the cup. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. Yeast is activated when the solution turns frothy.

Step 2: Make dough - Put all three flours into a big bowl. Add oil, salt and italian seasoning to it. Add water (from yeast mixture) gradually and sparingly into the flour to make dough with desired consistency. Keep kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. Make required adjustments with oil and water. Ideal dough is non-sticky and stretchable. Make 3 to 4 dough balls.

Step 3: Fermentation: Coat each dough ball with oil. Cover the bowl and let it ferment at room temperature for about 8 to 10 hours (at least 2 hours). After fermentation, knead the dough again to remove air bubbles from dough.

Step 4: Making pizza:
Preheat oven to 450F. Stretch one dough ball into round shape with a rolling pin to make pizza bread. It should be thick enough to hold the toppings. Dust it with some corn meal and all purpose flour (to prevent pizza bread from sticking). Spray cooking oil to pizza stone. Slide the pizza bread into cast iron skillet. Spread pizza sauce, put all the topping, and top it with shredded mozzarella  Put the skillet into lowest rack of oven. Let it bake for about 14 minutes. By the end of 14 minutes, turn oven to broiler and let it broil for about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove pizza from oven, slice it with a slicer and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Notes:
1. You can use pizza stone instead of cast iron skillet.
2. Broiling the pizza gives the perfect crispy crust. If you do not like crispy pizzas, skip the broiling part. Instead, remove pizza from the oven after cooking for 14 minutes.
3. Why three flours? - This is because wheat and corn flour makes crispy pizza and all purpose flour makes softer pizza. Hence, using all three flours in above proportions makes pizza with perfect balance of softness and crispness.
4. Why sugar to activate yeast? - Sugar is the food for yeast and it helps to boost metabolism and hence activates yeast faster.