Have you ever tried a Sri Lankan egg curry? If you haven’t then you are in for a treat. This is a wildly delicious and ridiculously easy recipe that takes the humble boiled egg and transforms it into something glorious on your plate. Step aside shakshuka, make way for the egg curry.
A good Sri Lankan egg curry needs good quality eggs
This is a simple recipe and the quality of the ingredients will make all the difference to this meal. My absolute favourite eggs are Clarence Court’s Burford Brown eggs. The yolks are densely golden, a rich deep orange that packs these eggs full of flavour and goodness.
Don’t cut corners with the onions
This is where the flavour comes from, so take your time when you cook your onions. Cook the onions slowly on a low heat until they are pearly, translucent and soft. It might be tempting to whack up the heat to speed up the process, but what you gain in time you’ll loose in flavour.
Layer the spices for this Sri Lankan egg curry
I heard this quote in a Cherry Bombe podcast featuring Padma Lakshmi, knowing how to use spices takes you from being a good cook to a great cook.
That’s exactly how spices can transform your cooking.
This recipe for Sri Lankan egg curry only uses a handful of spices. There’s no one overriding flavour, each spice works with the other to create a harmonised blend that works magic on your tastebuds.
Do you need to have Maldive fish?
Maldive fish is a uniquely Sri Lankan ingredient. Made in the Maldive Islands, this is cured dried tuna which is often added to vegetable curries. If you can’t find any Maldive fish or you don’t want to use Maldive fish then simply leave it out. Maldive fish is optional.
What can you eat with an egg curry?
I would pair this dish with a dry vegetable curry, something like a kale or cabbage mallung would be perfect.
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How to make a Sri Lankan egg curry that’s simply satisfying to eat
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main course
- Cuisine: Sri Lankan
Ingredients
- 6 hard-boiled eggs (shelled)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 spring curry leaves
- 1 green chilli, sliced (de-seed if you want less heat)
- 1 onion sliced into half-moons
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cm ginger, finely chopped
- 2 cardamoms pods, crushed
- 1 cm cinnamon stick
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 tsp Maldive fish (optional)
- 5 cherry tomatoes halved / tomato roughly chopped
- 400mls coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- Salt (a pinch)
- Juice 1 lime
Instructions
- In a frying pan gently heat the coconut oil before you add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and chilli.
- Once you start to smell the spices and hear them pop add the onions followed by the garlic and ginger. Keep the heat low and gently cook the onions til they are soft, pearly and translucent.
- Now add the crushed cardamom pods, cinnamon, fenugreek and Maldive fish allow the spices to cook for a further three minutes. Drop in the tomatoes and cook until they soften.
- Pour in the coconut milk and stir in the turmeric. After this gently nestle in the boiled eggs.
- At this stage the sauce won’t have much flavour. Cover the frying pan, and let the curry cook gently. You’ll find after about 15 minutes the flavours of the spices will have infused into the coconut sauce.
- Let the curry cook for a further 5 minutes, add some salt to bring out the flavours and a squeeze of lime.
- Service with rice and a dry vegetable curry such as a kale or cabbage mallung.
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