Tomato Bowl 2011 Travels To India

Apparently I took a global approach with the Tomato Bowl this year!  Yesterday I was looking at my selection of Red Gold canned tomato products, and I wondered if I’d picked up enough.  They really have quite the selection of products on the shelves at stores these days, and I was wondering if I should have picked up a few more to make choosing something to make easier.

But then my mind wandered towards my absolute favorite thing to eat in the whole world, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it… Curry.  Indian curries make me happy, and as my whole house still smells like curry this morning, last night’s dinner is STILL making me happy.

Many years ago, during some of the early years of the Food Network, there was a show on where they would visit home cooks around the country and show off their specialties.  I don’t even remember what the show was called, but I do remember one episode where they visited a lady who made an amazing looking Egg Curry, and ever since I saw that episode, I’ve wanted to try it.  Oh, I’ve thought of it many times over the years and always just set the thought aside, because I wasn’t sure how my husband would feel about it- let alone the kids.   Since this was a week of trying new things with tomatoes, it was finally time.  I planned to make an Egg Curry.  I’ve had a recipe floating around for a while, but reading through it, I ended up just setting it aside and going it on my own- I’ve made plenty of curries and know the process.  The results?  Unexpected, this was.

Our Egg Curry ingredients are:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

1 heaping tablespoon minced ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 (28 ounce) can Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes

2 tablespoons Red Gold Tomato Paste

8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala

1/4 cup half & half (not pictured)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked Basmati Rice, Plain Yogurt, Chutney for serving

Begin by putting your oil in a large pan and turning up the heat to the higher end of medium-high heat. (Not quite all the way to high.)  Add the onion, ginger and garlic.  Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very fragrant and quite soft.  Some carmelization is okay as well.  Add the curry powder, cook and stir for another minute.

Add the Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes and the Red Gold Tomato Paste.  Stir well to combine, add the lid to the pan, and turn down the heat to medium.  Cook for about 15 minutes.  Check it every once in a while, and if it gets to where it looks like there isn’t enough moisture in the pan, go ahead and add a bit of water- just 1/4 cup at a time as needed.

At the 15 minute mark, slide your whole hard-boiled eggs into the sauce.   Reduce the heat further to medium-low, return the cover, and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes- basically enough time to get your Basmati rice cooked up.   Stir a few times during those 20 minutes.  Just before serving, stir in the Garam Masala and the half & half.  Slice the eggs in half with a knife, and serve the curry over hot Basmati rice, topped with yogurt and chutney as desired.

This Egg Curry was nothing short of amazing.   The curry powder I used was a blend that a friend had given me from South Africa, so it was a hot curry powder.  The eggs were so creamy in texture and were such a perfect addition to a spicy curry!   I really wasn’t sure what to expect of this curry, but it far surpassed any thoughts I’d had about its deliciousness.  Andy even said that he thinks this is his favorite curry dish- surpassing our ultimate favorite Butter Chicken.   This was way too hot for either kid to eat, which is unfortunate because I think Abigail would have really loved it.  She kept wandering into the kitchen while I was assembling, smelling the curry and eyeing up the eggs enviously.   Definitely feel free to adjust the curry seasoning up or down according to your tastes.

In case it hasn’t been obvious, I’ve really, really enjoyed participating in the Red Gold/Red Pack Tomato Bowl 2011.  I always love coming up with new dishes, but usually when I am challenged, it is by ingredients that are more on the pricey side, so I’m more cautious to try new things.  It was pure pleasure to go the store and load up on Red Gold tomato products for just a few dollars.  And even better than that?  Tomatoes are loaded with antioxidants and lycopene, so we’ve been doing our bodies great good this week while I’ve been playing around.    It’s also been a real pleasure meeting all the bloggers participating in this challenge and seeing what they’ve come up with.

I’m not sure if I’ll be back with another recipe or not… we have a busy couple of days, and while I have a few more ideas in the hopper, we’ll see if they make the deadline of one hour before The Big Game begins.   If I don’t make it back, thank you so much for checking in this week while the Tomato Bowl has been going on.  Be sure and check out the other bloggers who are participating too.  At last count, the Packer Bloggers were way ahead of the Steeler Bloggers, yet some of those Steeler bloggers are coming up with some great dishes too, so it could come down to the wire.  Thank you to Red Gold/Red Pack for coming up with this fun challenge- and hey, if you ever want to add to your ranks of recipe developers, give me a holler, it’s been a whole lot of fun working with the Red Gold family of products this week.