5 years ago, if someone had told me I would be a big fan of cast iron, I would have laughed. “There is no way” I would have said. I had this myth in my mind that cast iron takes a lot of oil. The first entry of cast iron in my kitchen came in the form of grill pan – I bought this after I read about it at Sig’s blog. I love this pan so much, it is perfect for grilling. But I was still not too comfy about caring for it. I guess I was doing it all wrong!. Then one day Nupur mentioned she had bought a cast iron pan and she absolutely loves it. She even posted this lovely post about cooking in cast iron. I was still skeptical. Then we visited Nupur’s family and I saw how she was using it for most of her cooking. One of the recipes that I make frequently in my cast iron skillet is this simple spicy egg fry.
So I went ahead and bought a skillet, I thought I may not use it very frequently, but wanted to give it a try. Initial few days needed little bit of patience – because you need to season them well before they become almost like non-stick. I have re-seasoned the skillet once – I had to do that because V unknowingly put it in a dish washer and next day it came out looking all rusted!.
I have been making a lot of dishes on my skillet these days. After the use, I just wash it, warm it up a bit to remove any moisture, add couple of drops of oil to it and spread the oil with a paper towel. We all love the taste of food cooked in this skillet. Our favorite has to be egg omelet – it just brings the taste up to a different level. I just use few drops of oil in cooking – if you read my blog, you have seen how little oil I use and I have no intention of changing it. Well seasoned cast iron works as good as a non-stick. Did I mention I threw away all my non-stick pans? I just have one non-stick tava with me, I may soon go for a cast-iron tava – the skillet I have is little small for dosas.
Here is one dish that I frequently make in my cast iron skillet – you can make it in any pan. This is my go-to dish on many nights when I am running out of ideas and want to make something quick and tasty. I used to throw away the yolks earlier but that is the only part Ishaan eats (if at all he eats eggs, he does not care for them too much!).
Ingredients:
6 boiled eggs
1/2 cup onion
1/4 cup tomato
1 tea spn chopped ginger
1 tea spn chopped garlic
5-6 curry leaves
1 tea spn chilli powder
1/2 tea spn coriander powder
1/2 tea spn cumin powder
Coriander leaves (optional)
Oil
Salt
Method:
Heat little oil and add onion, curry leaves, ginger, garlic. Sprinkle some salt on top and let the onions soften. Then add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, fry for a minute.
Add eggs, salt, mix well. Add tomatoes, cover the lid and let them get cooked a bit. Sprinkle coriander leaves if desired. Serve hot with chapatis or rice.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 30mins
I too bought a cast iron griddle after reading about cast iron on nupur’s blog and I use it everyday and it is left on the burner all the time 🙂
Funny that you say ur son eats only egg yolks. My daughter eats only the whites. 🙂
Mmm- delicious dish, I make it often by cracking eggs into the pan, but this hard boiled version looks so good.
So glad cast iron pans are part of your kitchen now.
I’m glad Ishaan eats egg yolks- they are full of nutrition! The thinking about yolks being bad for you is totally outdated now.
Nupur, I thank you every time I use my cast iron pan. Ishaan’s love for eggs is going down day by day. I hope he continues to eat atleast the yolks!. V does not like the taste of yolks, so I used to throw them out. Now he takes whites and Ishaan takes yolks!
I bought a cast iron skillet and I am so happy with it. I had a question about cast iron grill pan, does it work well with an electric coil stove stop?
Yes it does. I have been using my cast iron grill pan for around 4 years now and I have electric coil stove.
Looks yum..Shilpa do u use the same tava for both making subzis and dosa.I always keep the dosa tava separate thinking if sumthing else is cooked in it the dosa will start sticking to tava.Does yhat happen with you.
Shweta, I don’t use cast iron skillet for dosas, main reason is my skillet is small and makes very small dosas. But I have used it for uttappams and there was no issue of sticking.
Hi,You know shilpa cast iron tawa,s have been used in India since very long.Here we know tthem as (bhida).And also if you make bhindi bhaji in a iron kadhai you get good crispy bhindi.In the south I think people still use bhida.IN india the iron kadhai is also used to soak mehendi for the hair as it gets rich black.But now somehow it is difficult to find these things easily in the cities,I think in the small towns they may be easily found.You have motivated me to start using them once more.
Yes, aayi has those she uses tava for all dosas and the kayli for mixing mehndi. She has been using it for decades now
Can you do a detailed separate post on all the things we need to know to use a iron tawa, Kadai, pan etc? My main concern is how to season it prior to use, how to wash, how to maintain, and safety issues like acids are not to be cooked in it to prevent excess iron leaching out etc.
The one hot stove author says she uses lodge brand which are preseasoned they put a non stick coating already on the pan.
It would help if you had a checkbox that says please notify me of follow up comments.
Radha, I also bought pre-seasoned. I just lost the coating after putting it in dishwasher. I am not an expert in cast iron cooking, but I will try to write a post some time.
That looks yummy!!
One question, which cast iron do you have? I am planning to buy one and I see that I have to spend at least $20 to get a good one.. I am wondering if I might end up not using it because of not knowing how to prepare it..
I have a 10″ Lodge cast iron skillet. It was around $16 I think. Please read Nupur’s post to learn more about cast iron cooking. I will try to write a post on it sometime too (I need to learn more about it before posting)
I love using cast iron, for dosa especially. I found a flat skillet like this one (http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-Griddle-10-5-inch/dp/B00008GKDN/ref=pd_sim_sbs_k_1) years ago, and it makes the crispiest dosa ever–and that too on an electric cooktop. I do use a bit of ghee (it’s one of the best fats for you–research the Weston A. Price Foundation if you’re ever interested) and it’s always great. Also ideal for pancakes and homemade english muffins.
We use cast iron tawa and skillet regularly in Pune.i have got one in Michigan too.to make the tawa nonstick,always keep it greased and use onion to grease.it acts as the non sticking agent.
where did u buy it in pune ? i want to buy one
Near mandai or in tulshibaugh.
I use Cast Iron Tava for Dosas and the dosas come out really great and all we need is to oil it well for the first dosa and for ones after that you don’t need to use much oil. After I have started using all my friends and relatives started using the same .I have also take one to India for my MIL. She loved it so much. I use the Lodge one.
Personally before using it for Dosas I cooked Onions , Potatoes etc with oil on it to season it. After 3-4 times of doing it I started using for Dosas . My mom suggested that this is the best way to season it.
I use the LODGE Tava, bought it at Walmart.
Totally agree. Dosas made on cast iron tava come out the best
This looks yummm.. I too have chucked non-stick cookware from my house except for a small omelet pan. Gotta try a cast iron pan. My girl too hates yolks. She happily eats the whites but if yolk goes in, everything comes out. Lol . Strange how kids behave 🙂
I started using cast iron polya kaili afterreading that nonstick was found in peoples stomach, from use of nonstick cookwar
I still couldnot make it nonstick, like people mention. The dosas come out awesome though with the use of oil
A simple, beautiful dish. Thanx for sharing!