Eggs and spinach – such a universal combination, and this dish is inspired by the large Parsee community where I grew up. Some people like to pan-fry the onions until they are absolutely brown, but I like to keep them translucent, so you can retain the texture and the flavour of the onion. Onions really have a lot to say, in my opinion. This dish is great served with naans.
SERVES 4
Ingredients
2 tomatoes
2 onions
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves
1 long thin green chilli
5 cm piece of fresh ginger
125 ml water (optional)
200 g cooked or canned chickpeas
200 g shredded kale leaves (see Atul’s tip, below)
200 g baby spinach leaves (see Atul’s tip, below)
small handful of fresh coriander leaves
1½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red chilli powder, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ tsp garam masala (optional)
4 eggs
sea salt
Assemble all the ingredients and equipment before you begin. You need a large sauté or frying pan with a lid, a food processor fitted with a chopping blade and a colander or sieve.
Coarsely chop the tomatoes. Peel, halve and thinly slice the onions. Heat the vegetable oil over a medium-high heat in the pan. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and leave them to soften, stirring occasionally, while you make a paste. You want them soft, but not coloured.
Meanwhile, peel the garlic cloves. Remove the stalk from the green chilli, if necessary, then coarsely chop the chilli. Peel and coarsely chop the ginger. Put the garlic cloves, green chilli and ginger in the food processor, and blitz until a fine green paste forms. Add the paste to the onions and stir until blended and the onions are softened. Stir in the water, if necessary, to prevent the onions catching on the bottom of the pan and burning.
Rinse the kale leaves, spinach leaves and fresh coriander. Tear out any thick stalks from the kale, if necessary, and drop the leaves & chickpeas into the pan along with the spinach leaves. Tear the coriander leaves from the stalks and add the leaves to the pan; discard the stalks.
Add the ground coriander, chilli powder, garam masala and ground cumin to the pan. Season with salt and stir the leaves and spices together for 30 seconds to cook the spices. The leaves will start wilting and shrinking in volume. Add the tomatoes and continue stirring until all the ingredients are blended. Adjust the seasoning with salt, if necessary.
Spread out the spinach mixture over the bottom of the pan, then use your spoon or spatula to make 4 indentations. One by one, crack the eggs into a small bowl, then gently tip them into the indentations. Cover the pan and leave the mixture over a medium heat for 6 minutes, or until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny and then serve.
Atul’s time-saving tip
Buying a bag of shredded kale and using baby spinach leaves helps save you prep time. If you do buy whole kale leaves or large spinach leaves, however, rinse them thoroughly, then cut out the thick stalks and finely shred the leaves.
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