A Different Kind of Egg Salad

Tis’ the season for egg salad as I’m sure most of you will have a lot of these soon.

This is not a typical mayonnaise and mustard egg salad. It starts with toasted mustard seeds, followed by caramelized onions and curry powder and then finished with fresh cilantro. It’s tangy and a little spicy – perfect piled on a hearty cracker or slathered between a couple slices of toasty bread.

Last week I had some girlfriends over to dye Easter eggs and to sample some recipes from Super Natural Every Day, the new cookbook by Heidi Swanson of the blog 101 Cookbooks. I made the avocado salad from her book, which is what this egg salad recipe is based on. I simply subbed eggs for the avocados and tweaked the ingredients a bit.

Note: I don’t recommend putting both your dye and your cocktail in Mason jars. It can lead to a mouthful of vinegar.

Dying eggs was awesome, even more fun than I remember as a kid.

The dyed eggs are so cheerful. I had to peek in the carton every time I opened the fridge.

Ahhh, they just make me smile. If you find yourself with a surplus of these lovelies give this unique egg salad a try.

Ingredients:

6 hard boiled eggs

the juice of one large lemon

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped

2 Tbs olive oil, divided

2 tsp black or brown mustard seeds

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp Indian curry powder

2 small serrano chiles, minced

Instructions:

Peel and roughly chop eggs. Place eggs, lemon, salt and cilantro in a medium bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add mustard seeds and cover. Heat until mustard seeds stop “popping”, about a minute. Add the onion and saute until translucent and starting to brown. Add garlic, curry powder and chiles. Cook another minute until curry is fragrant.

Remove onion mixture from heat and gently stir into egg mixture along with additional tablespoon of oil.

Serve with crackers, over greens or in a pita or sandwich.

Serves 4-6.