Indian-Spiced Tomato and Egg Casserole

Chef Floyd Cardoz and one of his dishes from

his latest restaurant, White StreetAs

many of you know, New York's winter has been not as unforgiving as the

one Boston is suffering through. But it

is incredibly cold here and not expected to get much warmer anytime soon. Times like these, I look for comfort food

that will warm the body and bring a sense of well-being with it. My thoughts turned to Indian food recently

with its rich spices all of which bring a lively heat to their dishes. The irony of India being a source of cold-weather cooking is not lost on me. India ranks the 8 hottest country in the world, beaten out by much of the Arabian peninsula

and North Africa. (Libya comes in at #1.) But what is also true is that eating spicy foods

raises your internal temperature. Your blood circulation increases, you may

start actually sweating. The effect of

this in summer is that sweat, which usually starts on your face,

evaporates and in doing so, cools you down.

In winter, the idea of raising

one’s internal temperature certainly has its appeal. So I turned to Floyd Cardoz, one of

New York’s most celebrated Indian chefs for a recipe that I served at brunch

but would make a wonderful “Breakfast for Dinner”. It’s meatless, gluten-free, vegetarian and

stunningly warming and delicious.

Chef Cardoz and his wife

at the New York Opening

of "100 Foot Journey"Floyd

Cardoz may not be a household name but you may be familiar with his work even

you don’t know his name. He was, for

instance, the authority hired by the producer of “The 100 Foot Journey”, last

year’s feel-good food movie. Floyd was

brought in because of his ability to fuse together two cultures through cooking

which was what the movie was all about.

He was uniquely qualified for his role.

Born in Bombay, he apprenticed at the Taj Mahal Intercontinental

Hotel. From there he went on to Hotel

School in Switzerland learning French and Italian cooking, getting his diploma

before heading back to India. From there he moved to New York and it was here

that he truly made his name. He became

Chef de Cuisine at Danny Meyer’s Tabla.

There he introduced New Indian cuisine marrying flavors and spices of

his native country with Western Techniques. He garnered 3 stars from The New

York Times and accolades from just about everyone in the 12 year history of the

restaurant. His latest venture, White

Street (221 West Broadway, New York, NY Tel: 212 944-8378) has been greeted

with high praise for its amazing fusion cuisine. How about Roast Suckling Pig Vindaloo with

Kimchi and Cabbage? By my count, that’s

at least three cultures sharing the same plate.

The Food Movie of 2014.Today’s

dish came from a 2014 New York Times article by Melissa Clark on

casseroles. Let’s face it, Casseroles,

that staple of the fifties haven’t made waves for some time. As food tastes

have become more sophisticated these remnants of the Campbell’s Cream Soups

School of Cooking have lost favor, the victim of their blandness and use of

processed food like…Campbell’s Cream Soups.

But put thoughts of those aside as you dip into Chef Cardoz’ tomato

sauce spiked with ginger, fresh green chiles and Indian spices poured over tiny

potatoes, baked for a time and then topped with eggs and baked again. The result is that the yolk runs all over

each tomato laden bite. Chef Cardoz’ inspiration was the

cooking of an ancient Zoroastrian Persian Parsis who settled in the India

between the 8th and 10th centuries. Whatever the inspiration, this dish should

not be missed. Serve it for brunch, as I

did, along with a whole grain toast. Or make it the centerpiece of a meatless meal. Use your food processor to prepare the green peppers, pulsing until they are finely chopped. You’ll see that the recipe calls for 6 eggs

and a 9x9 inch casserole. I used a Emile

Henri ceramic pie dish, used only 4 eggs and likely didn’t need to make half

the potatoes called for. It was

magnificent. Here is the recipe:

Recipe for Floyd Cardoz’ Indian-Spiced Tomato and Egg Casserole

Takes 1 hour to make. Yields 6 servings.

1 ½

• pounds fingerling potatoes
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded if desired, finely chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded if desired, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground garam masala
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• ¼ cup chopped fresh mint, more for garnish
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or basil, more for garnish
• 1. Place
• potatoes in a large pot and cover with generously salted water. Bring to a
• boil; cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. When just cool

enough to handle, slice into 1/2-inch-thick rounds.

2. While

potatoes cook, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and

cook until almost tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in peppers and cook 3 minutes.

3. Add ginger, garlic, cumin, garam masala and coriander; cook 1 minute.

4. Stir in

tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer over medium-low heat, breaking up

tomatoes with a fork, 15 minutes. Stir in mint and cilantro or basil. Taste and

adjust seasonings.

Heat

oven to 375 degrees.

5. Place potatoes in a single layer in a 9-inch-square baking

dish.

6. Spoon the hot tomato sauce over potatoes. Transfer pan to oven and bake 20

minutes.

7. Make

six wells in the tomato mixture. Crack eggs into wells and season with salt and

pepper. Bake until egg whites are set but yolks are still runny, 8 to 13

minutes or longer, depending on how much the potatoes and sauce cooled before baking.

Serve garnished with herbs.