Onion Egg Curry or Ulligadda Ukkera is a very quick, delicious and a rustic Telangana style egg curry with only onions.
It is our go to recipe when pressed for time, when I am out of produce and meats for the week or looking for some comfort food on a lazy weekend.
Egg curry always comes to recuse when we run out meal ideas. For egg masala with only onions, I make ulligadda ukkera and with tomatoes, it is kodi guddu kura. Once the eggs are boiled, both ukkera and kura cook in under 20 minutes.
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Telugu is a dialect of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, 2 southern states in India. Ulligadda in Telugu is onion and Ukkera is referred to a dry curry that has a mushy texture. Do not ask me the meaning of ukkera, as I was unsuccessful in my quest.
Tamata ukkera and mirapakaya ukkera are two other ukkera recipes we make regularly at home. You can find the recipe for mirapakaya ukkera on Kalyani’s blog, a guest post I did last year.
Ingredients
Eggs (anda) – My family loves anda and I use more in my recipe. Adjust number of anda as needed. Pre-plan and boil these before hand to speed up the cooking time. It is the only time consuming part of the preparation.
Onion – Onions are the base for this curry. We consume more eggs than curry, hence make less curry. Adjust onions as needed or adjust the number of eggs accordingly. Recipe below yields ⅔ – ¾ cup of curry. Check the recipe card for detailed recipe.
Sesame Seeds – In Telangana region, sesame is used extensively in vegetable curries and chutneys. It gives a mild, nutty flavor. You can also use sesame seeds powder to adjust the heat level of ukkera, if it is too spicy.
Other Ingredients – Rest of the ingredients; oil, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves, green chilies, chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder are the basic essential ingredients for most of the Indian curries.
Preparation
For detailed recipe, check the recipe card below. Preparation is very basic. Prepare the base and cook eggs in it. The only time consuming step of the preparation is boiling eggs. Preplan and boil eggs first, and the curry is ready under 15-20 minutes.
Boil Eggs – Do this either in an electric pressure cooker or on stovetop. Peel and make slits or pierce holes around each egg and keep aside.
If using an electric cooker like an Instant Pot to boil eggs, do 5-5-5; pressure cook for 5 minutes, quick pressure release after 5 minutes and let sit in ice cold water for 5 minutes.
Curry – In a pan heat oil, fry curry leaves and ginger garlic paste (image #1). Then add onions (image #2) and saute until onions are soft. Add rest of the masala and give a good stir (mages #3-4).
Add eggs, mix well, cover and cook on medium – medium high flame until onions are fully cooked (images #5-6). Keep stirring in between.
Uncover, add sesame powder (image #7) and cook for few minutes until ukkera is done. Garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves (image #8).
Serving
Ulligadda ukkera pairs well with rice. It also goes with roti, however, we prefer it with rice. On my yesterday’s Insta feed it was this ukkera, tomato charu and beans stir fry.
Frequently Asked Questions
On stovetop, bring water to boil, add eggs and boil for 12- 15 minutes. OR, take eggs and water in a pot and cook for 20 minutes; 10 minutes for water to come to a boil and another 10 minutes for hard boiled eggs.
In Instant Pot, I do 5-5-5; that is pressure cook for 5 minutes, quick pressure release after 5 minutes and in cold water for 5 minutes. Depending on where you live, you need to figure out the right time. Some people do 6-6-6 and some do 4-4-4.
Yes you can. Not all curries require curry powder and this is one such recipe.
More Egg Recipes
Eggs are always a savior when I runout of ideas when meal planning. Besides egg curry, egg bhurji or scrambled eggs and egg pulusu are my go to recipes. Steamed egg curry and ridge gourd egg bhurji are some of my favorites and below are few more.
Detailed, Printable Recipe
Onion Egg Curry
Equipment
- Cutting board & knife
- Saucepan to boil eggs
- Frying Pan
- Spice grinder
Ingredients
- 2 ½ tbsp Oil, add more if needed
- 4 Curry Leaves
- 2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 2 large Onions thinly sliced, about 3 cups
- 3 Green Chilies slit vertically and cut into half adjust to taste
- 2 tsp Coriander Powder
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 ½ tsp Chili Powder adjust to taste
- 1 tsp Salt adjust to taste
- 6 Eggs, boiled and peeled
- 1 ½ tsp Roasted Sesame Seeds, powdered (opt)
- 1 tsp Dry Coconut Powder opt, I didn’t use it
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
Boil Eggs
- Boil eggs on stovetop. Take water in a pot, bring to a boil, slowly drop eggs and boil for another 12-15 minutes, or in pan take both eggs and water and cook for 20 minutes. Discard water and fill with cold water.
- In Instant Pot, do 5-5-5; pressure cook for 5 minutes, quick pressure release after 5 minutes and let sit in ice cold water for 5 minutes. This works for me and some people do 4-4-4 and some do 6-6-6.
- When eggs come to room temperature and easy to handle, peel and keep aside.
Curry
- Piece eggs with a fork or carefully make 4-5 slits around the eggs using a knife.
- In a pan heat oil, add curry leaves, ginger garlic paste and saute for few seconds.
- Add Onion and saute until onions are translucent. This should take about 4-5 minutes.
- Add green chilies, coriander powder, turmeric, chili powder and salt and stir until all the spices are mixed.
- Add eggs and mix.
- Cover and cook on medium – medium high flame for 5 – 8 minutes or until onions are fully cooked. Stir in between for even cooking. Sprinkle some water if the curry burns.
- Remove the cover, add sesame seed powder and/or coconut powder if using.
- Fry for few more minutes, turn off the heat and transfer to a serving dish.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice.
Notes
- Prep Time – Prep time mentioned above is for boiling eggs. If eggs are already boiled, curry is done under 20 minutes.
- Serving – this curry serves 3 people, assuming there are other sides on the menu. Hence adjust number of eggs accordingly. Ours is an egg loving family and I usually add more more eggs than required.
- Serving Size – This recipe yields about ⅔ – ¾ cups of curry, without the eggs. That is about ¼ cup curry plus 2 eggs per serving.
- Eggs – Adjust number of eggs as needed. I add more eggs as we love eggs.
- Onions – We consume more eggs than the curry. So, adjust onions as needed or adjust the number of eggs accordingly. For more curry, add more onions and adjust chili powder and salt according.
- Nutrition – Values mentioned below are approximate values.
Nutrition
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This post was originally published in April 2009. It is republished with new content and images.
NARMADHA says
This is my go-to recipe and I make this once in 10 days and everyone in the family loves it. Thanks for sharing simple and easy egg curry.
Radha says
This must be an excellent curry and absolutely loved your presentation.
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
This actually does sound like a different version of our mutta roast. Whatever said and done, I really love a curry like with this with some dosa or even bread… So simple yet delicious…
Vaishali says
These eggs look so pretty..the clicks are absolutely gorgeous. I am sure they must be equally delicious.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
I love egg curry and my friend who is from Andhra makes amazing one. I love the sesame flavor and this curry is so simple to make. I will make some next week.
Suma Gandlur says
This is an apt one for the theme you picked and am sure egg lovers would enjoy this curry.
Sonia says
I just made this egg curry for myself for dinner. It smells heavenly already, can’t wait to taste it. Thank you for the recipe! <3
nikhil says
I prepared ths curry its so tasty
rt says
Can I use sesame seeds instead of sesame seed powder?
MySpicyKitchen says
Sesame powder is usually used but if you do not mind biting on the seeds, yes you can give it a try.
Vinod says
Asum one, just similar to what my mom use to do. Came really well, But i happen to add little more coriander powder than specified. I happen to seperate some for rice mix and had to dreak the egg and tossed it with Rice with little (1/2 teaspoon) of oil. The rice with the egg curry was real nice. Same way the egg curry was asum to take with Chapati, Ghee Dosai and Curd Rice… I tried all above and it wasmouth watering. Thank you so much. Simple supurb.
Ramya says
I love this curry for its taste and ease.
sesamepwdr is new to me will add at my next trial.
btw nice picture
indosungod says
egg curry – delicious, my favorite when I can’t decide what to cook. The family loves it. I cook it almost the same way but have never added sesame powder.
varsha says
Wow..smashing pic Usha..I have this all the time with chapathi..Slurp slurp..:)