If I had to pick one kitchen gadget to take with me into the afterlife, it would be my instant pot. Not a stand mixer, not the pizza oven, and not even my trusty nutribullet (though if they let me take two, I’d take this as well). I I cook with the instant pot at least 4-5 times a week. It is quiet and efficient (unlike a regular pressure cooker which I find a hot, loud mess) and there’s something truly satisfying about dumping a few ingredients into a pot, closing it shut, watching a Honeyjubu vlog or two, and then opening it up a little while later to find that it has made you a beautiful meal. There are few things I find cosier. A lot of people find the hands-off-ness disconcerting — that you put it in the ingredients, and have no idea what’s happening until you open it up, but to me that’s the magic™.When mum was here two weeks ago, she made Sajjad and me my favourite breakfast: puttu, chicken stew, and mutta kakkam. Mutta kakkam is how shall I say… if a mutta roast developed a meditation practice and became its most intense, no-bullshit, tastiest self. It’s basically hard boiled eggs tossed in a paste of chilli, onion (lots of big opinions here), and coconut oil. But it’s so much more than that. Like kozhi porichathu, which I know many of you are acquainted with, the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, this is another recipe that asks you to have a little faith. It tastes great with pathiri, porotta, puttu. My dad loves to squish the egg with a little of the kakkam (the masala paste), and then stir in a bit of yogurt. I like to have it without the yogurt, a little extra kakkam, and a little red fish curry drizzled on top if I’m feeling like I want to give my stomach lining a workout.
Mum and I worked out a fool-proof way of making the Mutta kakkam in the Instant Pot and we are crazy excited about it. Although we boiled the eggs on the stove, you can definitely do that in the Instant Pot as well.
We’re doing a series where we’re cooking an entire Malabar-style meal in the instant pot, and this is the first dish. Stay tuned for ghee rice, coconut dal and dessert!
Btw, if you’re not familiar with the Instant Pot, I’ve written an Instagram post about it.
Recipe: Mutta kakkam
Ingredients
3 hard boiled eggs, cut lengthwise into halves
150 g onion, chopped as finely as your patience will allow
1/2 cup chilli powder (use Kashmiri if you’d like it mild. Mum and I use a mix of Kashmiri and Byedgi)
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/4 cup water
4 tbsp coconut oil
Salt to taste
Method
Add the onion, chilli powder, turmeric salt and water to the Instant Pot. Pressure cook on low for 10 minutes. Manually release.
Open and switch to sauté mode. Add the coconut oil, and stirring constantly, reduce the kakkam until the chilli stops smelling raw, and it darkens slightly.
Add the boiled eggs, carefully coat the eggs in the kakkam and serve!
This makes enough for two batches — store in an airtight container and freeze for a rainy day.
To make this in a regular pressure cooker on the stove: After the first whistle, turn down the heat and pressure cook for 10 minutes.