Curried Eggs with Lentils and Fresh Coconut and Coriander Chutney

from Fairburn Eggs

Makes: 4

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, peeled, halved and sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 25g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 green chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli seeds
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp gram masala
• 1 tsp cardamom pods
• 1 bay leaf
• 300g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp. mango chutney
• 400g tin of Puy Lentils drained
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 2 tsp double cream
• 8 large eggs
• Fresh ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan and add onions, garlic, ginger and chilli.  Cover and cook gently over a low heat for approximately 15 minutes until the onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, turn up the heat and brown the onions, but watch that they don’t burn. 
2. Sprinkle the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, coriander, turmeric, chilli seeds and gram marsala, cardamom pods, bay leaf cooking for a further 2 minutes to warm the spices and release the aromas. Add the tomatoes, lentils, chutney and water to the sauce. Season with black pepper and cook gently for a further 20 minutes regularly stirring and adding more vegetable stock if needed. Remove the pan from the heat, removing the bay leaf.  Let the sauce cool.  And then add the double cream, stir and keep warm.
3.  Half fill a large saucepan with cold water, add the eggs, cover with the lid and bring to the boil and simmer for 4 minutes. Drain in a sieve and leave under running water until the shells feel cold and you can carefully crack and peel the shells off, cut in half.
4. Warm the sauce through gently, stirring constantly.  
5. When the sauce gently bubbles, add the eggs and heat them for 3 minutes, stirring gently and spooning the hot sauce over them. If the sauce is thick, add a couple of tablespoons of water to thin it down. 
6. Serve the eggs with the coconut and coriander chutney below and with some freshly boiled basmati rice.