Eggs are very Easter-appropriate, and some of my favourite egg recipes come from the egg-obsessed Parsis (descendants of Persian Zoroastrians, who emigrated to India thousands of years ago). Their obsession extends beyond the kitchen, too: achoo-meechoo, for example, is a custom where an egg is waved around a person’s head (six times clockwise, once anti-clockwise), then broken to ward off evil. When it comes to cooking, meanwhile, Parsis will put an egg on anything, and one favourite dish is kanda papeta par eeda, or eggs on potatoes, which I ate when staying with friends in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill and which inspired today’s recipe.
Malabar Hill eggs with tomato chutney
A food processor with a large grater attachment will make light work of grating the potatoes, although you could use a box grater, if you have the stamina. You’ll also need a 30cm x 40cm baking tray. This recipe was originally published in my book Dinner.
Prep 5 min
Cook 1 hr 15 min
Serves 2-4
For the potatoes
Rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing
1kg maris piper potatoes, washed but unpeeled
Fine sea salt
1 onion, peeled and very finely sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
4 eggs
Fresh coriander leaves, optional
For chutney
350g ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1 lime, juiced to get 1 tbsp
1 tsp chipotle flakes, ground in a mortar
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
¾ tsp fine salt
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Line an oven tray with baking paper and grease it with a little rapeseed oil.
First, make the chutney: put all the ingredients in a serving bowl, mix really well and put to one side.
Grate the potatoes in a food processor, put them in a large bowl with a teaspoon of salt, then mix with your hands and leave to steep for five minutes.
Put the potatoes in a clean, thin tea towel, scoop together the corners, then wring the towel until you can’t squeeze out any more water. Pop the potatoes back in the bowl, add the onion, cumin, turmeric, four tablespoons of oil and a half-teaspoon of salt, and mix really well with a spoon (your fingers will turn yellow if you use your hands). Tip out on to the lined tray, spread out right to the edges, then pop the tray into the oven for 40 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and, using the back of a large spoon, make four shallow indentations in the potato mixture, making sure you don’t go as deep as the tray itself or the eggs are likely to stick. Carefully crack an egg into each indent, then return the tray to the hot oven for 10 minutes, until the whites are just set and the potatoes are golden and crisp.
Scatter the coriander leaves, if using, over the eggs, along with a little sea salt, then cut into two or four equal pieces, divide between plates and eat straight away with the chutney alongside.