This rich, creamy, flavor-packed Kerala egg curry from South India can be eaten with the Kerala staples of lacy rice pancakes (appam) or fresh rice noodles (idiyappam), rice, or naan – anything that can soak up the bright flavors of the curry in every bite!
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Kerala is a state in South India, where my family lives and this egg curry Kerala style recipe is adapted from one I grew up with. My mom makes this curry for breakfast or lunch.
We like our egg curry (mutta curry) without tomato, but you could add it.
In most Kerala kitchens, breakfast is a substantial meal, and my parents’ home is no exception. One popular breakfast is appam, a pancake with a thick, sponge-like center and crisp, lacy edges.
Another one of my favorites is idiyappam which is freshly steamed rice noodles with grated coconut. I love eating it with a curry such as coconut-milk beef curry, Kerala vegetable stew, or this egg curry with coconut milk.
➡ Looking for Kerala recipes? Try my Instant Pot chicken korma, Kerala chicken curry or Instant Pot beef curry. For vegetarian options, try Kerala sambar, Kerala vegetable stew, or parippu curry (South Indian dal). And if fish is what you’re looking for, try Instant Pot Fish Molly!
Ingredients and Tips
🧂 Ingredients for this Kerala Egg Curry Recipe
More details in the recipe card at the bottom of this post
💡 Ingredient and Recipe Tips
🥣 Mustard Seeds: Mustard seeds are a staple in Indian cooking, used to season oil. Heat the oil until very hot before adding seeds. Cover the pan with a glass lid or splatter screen when adding mustard seeds. As they pop, listen for the sound to taper off before removing the lid and adding curry leaves.
🌿 Curry Leaves: Find fresh curry leaves at Indian grocery stores or online. Heat oil and add 10-12 leaves before sautéing other ingredients. Note: Curry leaves are unique – lime, bay, or basil leaves won’t substitute. They have a heavenly aroma and flavor and are worth seeking out!
🥥 Coconut Milk: Opt for full-fat coconut milk from reliable brands like Aroy-D, Chaokoh, or Trader Joe’s. Homemade coconut milk has two pressings: thick (first press) and thin (second press). For canned milk, thin with water for initial cooking, and add full-fat coconut milk at the end of cooking.
🌶️ Kashmiri Chili Powder: A special Indian chili powder with bright red color and moderate heat. Find Kashmiri chili powder at Indian grocery stores or online. Substitute with a smaller amount of cayenne and paprika.
🍅 Tomatoes: I like to make egg curry without tomatoes. But some recipes include tomatoes. Add 1 cup diced tomatoes or one tablespoon tomato paste thinned with water after sautéing onions. Cook until oil begins to separate.
🌱 Fennel: Commonly used in South Indian (Kerala) recipes. I prefer whole fennel seeds ground fresh with a mortar and pestle or dedicated spice grinder. Ground fennel loses freshness quickly.
🥔 Potatoes: Yukon gold potatoes work best. Cut into 1½ to 2-inch pieces to ensure proper cooking. Cook them till well-done but not overcooked.
🥚 Eggs: Cook eggs in the Instant Pot or on the stovetop and have them ready to go before beginning this South Indian egg curry recipe.
💦 Curry Consistency: Adjust liquid to achieve desired thickness. For a thicker curry, reduce water by ¼ cup. For a thinner consistency, add ¼ cup water or extra coconut milk at the final stage.
🫙 Spices: I like to use a pinch of cardamom, cinnamon, and clove powders but you can also use whole spices and add them when you’re adding the curry leaves.
How to Make Egg Curry
♨️ Stovetop Method
- Add oil to a large saucepan. Once the pan has heated up, heat some oil. Add mustard seeds and cover with a lid or splatter screen. The mustard seeds will pop. Add the curry leaves and saute for 5 to 10 seconds.
- Stir in onion, garlic, ginger, and green chilis, and saute the onion mixture until onions are light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in coriander, black pepper, chili powder, turmeric, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and salt. Stir the spices with the onion mixture for about 30 seconds. Deglaze as needed.
- Stir in potatoes and coat with spice mixture.
- Stir in ¼ cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of water (or enough to almost cover the potatoes). Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
- Cover, reduce heat, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Stir in the remaining coconut milk and lightly mash the potatoes with the back of a spoon.
- Use a large spoon to carefully transfer halved boiled eggs into the curry.
- Gently ladle the curry over the eggs, trying to keep the eggs intact. Heat through, but don’t boil. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
⏲️ Egg Curry Instant Pot Method
- Fry mustard seeds and curry leaves.
- Saute onion, garlic, ginger, and green chilis.
- Stir in coriander, black pepper, chili powder, turmeric, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and salt.
- Stir in potatoes, coconut milk and water.
- Place the eggs on a tall trivet in the curry and pressure cook.
- Release pressure and remove the eggs and trivet.
- Stir in the remaining coconut milk.
- Peel and cut the eggs and transfer to the curry.
- Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
Kerala Egg Curry with Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 12 curry leaves (optional)
- 2 cups onion chopped
- 2 teaspoon garlic minced
- 2 teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 jalapeno pepper or serrano pepper, sliced lengthwise (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder or paprika
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon fennel powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste!
- 2 cups Yukon gold potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes) cut into 1 ½ to 2 inch cubes
- ¾ cup coconut milk divided (preferably Chaokoh or Aroy-D brand)
- 1 ¼ cup water
- 6 uncooked eggs
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped, to garnish
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- Bring the eggs to a boil in 1 ½ quarts of water in a medium saucepan. Once the water starts to boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water. Peel the eggs once they are cool enough to handle and cut them lengthwise, if desired.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, heat the oil till very hot. Add the mustard seeds and cover with a lid. When the mustard seeds have popped, add the curry leaves and stir for 5 seconds.
- Add the onions, garlic, ginger and green chilis and saute till the onions turn golden brown, about 5 to 8 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add in coriander, black pepper, chili powder, turmeric, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and salt. Stir frequently, for about 2 minutes. Deglaze with a small amount of water if you find that the spices are burning.
- Add the potatoes and stir to coat them with the spices. Add a teaspoon or two of water, if needed, to prevent the spices from burning or sticking.
- Stir in ¼ cup coconut milk and 1 ¼ cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer covered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in the remaining coconut milk. Gently place the eggs into the curry. Heat through, but don't boil. Remove from heat.
- Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.
- Serve over appam, idiyappam, or basmati rice.
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Instructions
- Select Saute and allow the Instant Pot to heat up. Once the inner pot has heated up, add oil.
- Once the oil has heated up, add mustard seeds and cover with a glass lid or splatter screen. The mustard seeds will pop.
- Add the curry leaves and saute for 10 seconds.
- Stir in onion, garlic, ginger and green chilis, and saute the onion mixture until onions are light golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Press Cancel. The spices will cook in the residual heat.
- Stir in coriander, black pepper, chili powder, turmeric, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and salt. Deglaze with a small amount of broth if you find that the spices are burning.
- Stir the spices with the onion mixture for about 30 seconds. Deglaze as needed.
- Stir in potatoes and coat with spice mixture.
- Stir in ¼ cup of coconut milk and 1 ¼ cups of water.
- Place a tall trivet in the inner pot and carefully place the eggs on the trivet.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
- Do a quick release of pressure (QR). [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- Open the lid and carefully remove the eggs from the inner pot using tongs or silicone gloves. Plunge the eggs into an ice bath and allow them to cool.
- When cool enough to handle, peel the eggs and cut them in half lengthwise (optional).
- Select Saute mode and add remaining coconut milk to the curry. Heat through , but don’t allow to boil. Press Cancel. Carefully add eggs to the curry and spoon curry over the eggs. Remove from heat.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
- Serve over appam, idiayappam, or basmati rice.
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. cubed potatoes, chopped onion, etc.
- * If the onion starts to stick to the bottom or burn, add a tablespoon of broth to deglaze and continue sauteing. Do this as often as needed until the onions are cooked properly.
- If you want to vary the thickness of the curry, add ¼ cup more water or ¼ cup less water.
Nutrition
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I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
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Marne says
Thank you for a great recipe! I Made this but had to leave out the peppers, black pepper, chili powder and even went light on the ginger (my daughter can’t eat any kind of spice and is super sensitive even to spice from things like ginger unfortunately) but she loved this with those left out. I’m sure it’s much better with them in it but just not for her. Have you ever froze it? Or do you think it would freeze well??
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Marne, boiled eggs tend to become tough when frozen. I would suggest freezing the curry without the eggs and adding them in when you’re ready to eat. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Jessie says
I added chicken cubed with the potatoes and left out the eggs. Spot on!
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Jessie, thank you for commenting. That’s a great idea – I have a similar recipe for chicken so I can totally see how that would work for you!
lisa says
Excellent! We made this tonight to eat with some chapati and it was so good!
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Thank you, Lisa! I’m so glad you liked it and thank you for your review!