Friday, August 3, 2012

Dimer Devil : Deviled Egg


Dimer devil is a very popular snack for Bengalis. I remember those food stalls selling this devilish snack during Durga puja or on any Mela. To me dimer devil was a breadcrumb coated fried snack that needs to be eaten hot. But, after I came to the US, I was surprised to find deviled egg is something not fried and to be eaten cold, much more like a salad. So I searched for the origin of this dish.

I found that 'deviled egg' originated in Rome, probably in the 13th century. They were originally made as stuffed eggs with raisins and herbs. The term 'deviled' appeared in 18th century in England where the stuffing was prepared with spicy mustard sauce and other fiery hot spices and condiments. So the word 'deviled' in deviled egg actually means spicy.

But this is more like a plate of salad, requires no cooking other than boiling the eggs. So how did it become a fried dish?

My foodie-friend Swapan Bose helped me with the answer to this. The batter fried version came into being during colonial India. Probably the innovative Burmese chefs in the British kitchen tried something new for their masters. They coated/stuffed the hard boiled egg with boiled potato, onion and other spices and dipped it in batter and fried it. Chickpea flour or breadcrumbs were used as coating to fry the deviled eggs. It was praised and became very popular. With the influence of Muslims, keema(minced meat) got added to the deviled egg. The road side snack shops and college canteens made the mince meat version of deviled egg popular.


Today I made those 'devilish' dimer devil. I used minced chicken. You can also use minced goat meat or lamb. Or if you want a lighter version of it, just use boiled potato.

Things needed to make dimer devil:



  • Hard boiled Egg:2
  • Minced chicken:2cup
  • Boiled Potato:1medium
  • Onion:1/2cup
  • Garlic:1tbsp
  • Ginger paste:1tbsp
  • Dried Mint:1tsp(Can be substituted with 1tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves)
  • Parsley:1/2tsp(Can be substituted with 1/2tbsp chopped fresh parsley or coriander)
  • Cumin powder: 1tsp
  • Garan masala powder: 1tsp
  • Turmeric powder: 1/2tsp
  • Green chilies(chopped): 1tbsp
  • White pepper powder:1tsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Breadcrumbs: 1cup
  • Egg: 1
  • Water: 2tbsp
  • Oil for deep frying


How to make dimer devil:



1. Take a non stick pan. Add oil, when the oil is hot add finely chopped garlic. Cook for 1-2min. Add chopped onions. Cook in medium heat for 3-4min till the onions turns pink.

2. Add ginger paste. Mix well and cook for another 2-3min.

3. Add mashed potato and minced chicken.

4. Add salt, dried mint leaves, parsley, cumin powder, white pepper powder. Mix well. I used dried mint but you can always use the fresh mint leaves. And you can replace parsley with coriander leaves. I used those two herbs because those were available to me.

5. Mix well. Keep cooking in medium heat and keep stirring or the minced meat will coagulate to make lumps. Add turmeric powder, garam masala powder, chopped green chilies.

6. Keep cooking for 10min. But the mixture should not be very dry. Take a little mixture in your hand, it should not stick to your hand and if you can make round ball with that without falling apart then it is perfect. Switch off the heat and let it cool down.

7. Make some hard boiled egg. Cut the hard boiled eggs length wise into two halves. You can also cut it into 4, it depends on your choice.




8. As the keema mixture cools down, take the half egg and handful of the keema mixture and make an elongated ball. So the egg will be inside the keema mixture.
9. Bit one egg. Mix water to it. Bit well. Dip the rounds in the egg mix and roll in breadcrumbs to coat it well.

10. While coating with breadcrumbs gently press with your finger the egg devil to give a smooth egg-like shape. If you feel the coating is too thin then repeat the process, dip it again in egg mix and again roll it on breadcrumbs. You can make this and store till the time to serve. Store them in a closed container in the refrigerator.


11. Just before serving fry the deviled egg till nice brown in color. Serve with some mustard sauce and salad on the side.


Dimer devil


2 comments:

  1. Devilishly beautiful and tempting! Don't know which one to praise more, the devil itself or the narration explaining the past & present of Deviled Egg.

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  2. Chitrangada, this is Kaushik Mukherji.

    Amazing. Just amazing!!! Its been three continous hours and after going through chicken chanp, mutton rezala, mutton roganjosh, mutton chanp, murgh tikka & finally (for today!) misti doi recipes, my wife and I are simply stunned. Lady, you are phata-phati!!! Now we cant decide who cooks which one, on our daughter's sixth birthday next week. Bhalo thakun aar onek onek subhecha! Daroon bhalo laglo portay!

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