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“Jai Mata Di”

This is the first post of this New Year at Cook Like a Bong. I wish you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was good too. I went out for a short trip to the Himalayas, specifically to Vaishna Devi. For those who are not aware of this holy Hindu shrine, let me give you a little information. The shrine is one of the holiest temples among Hindus, and one of the few temples where the Goddess is worshipped not in the form of any idol but just a little piece of rock. The shrine is located in the Northern State of Jammu & Kashmir and is a 13km trek from a little hill town called Katra. Vaishno Devi or Mata Rani is a manifestation of the mother goddess. As with all Hindu temples and shrines, the Vaishno Devi temple also has some mythological significance, to know more about those stories here.

Amidst a cloud covered sky we reached Katra. The following morning was our trek to the shrine, but the rains and cold were about to wash out everything. Fighting with all natural hazards we still could make out to our destination with a 6 hour trek – walking and by pony at times. The cloud and fog never let us have a view of the mountains, and we were almost heart broken. The aarti and visit to the shrine was a divine experience. After a long and tiring journey, a visit to the temple really had its charming effect. All done, we were to head back again the next morning. Thanks to the all night rain and little snowfall, the next morning was a wonderful experience. We started our journey when it was still dark, and could see the first rays of sun slowly falling over the snow capped mountain. I have watched this very scene many times at different places, but the first ray of sun turning the snow to gold is always a mesmerizing view. We took a helicopter to come down. It was to save time and also to have a once in a lifetime experience in a helicopter. The trip lasted just 3 days with loads of troubles including cancelled flight, lost items in the flight cargo, rains, cold, wet sweaters, walking bare foot on the ice cold stone steps – these incidents made me feel really bad. But while writing this post, I realized I really enjoyed the trip.

Coming back to food, I just thought of writing about this egg in mustard-poppy paste recipe. I had clicked the photo quite some time back, and was waiting for the right time to post it. The first post for this year, rather this decade seemed to be exactly the right time for it. It is an easy recipe and can be had be one and all.

Serves 4

Preparation time 10min

Cooking time 30min

Ingredients:

Egg (Dim): 4

Potato (Alu): 1, large

Mustard seed (Sarse): 4 tablespoon

Poppy seed (Posto): 4 tablespoon

Onion (Peyaj): 1, medium

Turmeric powder (Hau guro): ½ teaspoon

Chili powder (Lanka guro): 1 teaspoon

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 10-12 tablespoon

Garam masala: ½ teaspoon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Preparation:

• Hard boil the eggs, chop the onions finely, slice the potatoes into long pieces, make a paste of mustard and poppy seeds together
• Heat the half the amount of oil in and fry the chopped onions, keep aside
• In the same left over oil fry the eggs, keep aside
• Pour in left over oil and fry the potatoes till half fried
• In the mean time, mix the chili and turmeric powder to the mustard-poppy paste
• As the potatoes get half cooked, pour in the spices and little water, cook till the potatoes are almost done
• Carefully put in the eggs and cook for 2-3mins more, pour in the garam masala powder,  and take out of flame, garnish with the fried onions
• Serve hot with warm rice

Hot Tips- If you want to make the gravy spicier then add some more mustard and poppy seeds to the paste.

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