This creamy curried egg sandwich recipe made with soft boiled eggs, curry powder, creamy whole egg mayonnaise, and served as an open sandwich on lightly toasted sourdough is our take on the traditional curried egg sandwiches that we grew up eating as children in Australia.
Who would have thought you needed a recipe for a curried egg sandwich? I didn’t until Terence made this creamy curried egg sandwich for me this week, which I shared on Instagram, and people asked for the recipe. Whether you’re a lover of curried egg sandwiches, or you’re yet making curried egg sandwiches, you’re going to want this creamy curried egg sandwich recipe.
Made with perfectly soft-boiled free-range eggs and served as an open sandwich on lightly toasted sourdough it’s Terence’s take on the traditional curried egg sandwich that I ate as a child growing up in Sydney‘s suburbs in Australia, only it’s so much more decadent and addictive.
Creamy Curried Egg Sandwich Recipe with Soft Boiled Eggs on Sourdough
This creamy curried egg sandwich recipe is based on Australia’s classic curried egg sandwich which is as Australian as a vegemite ‘sanger’ and was one of my favourite lunches as a child. When it came to preparing meals my dad and mum each had their specialties. During our five years travelling around Australia, mum mostly cooked dinner, so dad would take on lunch duties. His specialty was the curried egg sandwich. Dad’s love of spice meant that when he cooked dinner it was often a curry too.
While I have no idea when Dad developed his fondness for curries, my first memories of eating curried egg sandwiches were sitting between the legs of my nanna, dad’s mum, as we watched the midday movie in their living room on their black and white television.
My dad and nanna’s curried egg sandwiches were made with Keen’s Curry Powder, finely chopped eggs thoroughly mashed with full creamed milk, between impossibly soft, thickly buttered white bread. Sometimes they added a layer of shredded lettuce and the sandwiches were always quartered into triangles. And always washed down with tea – made in a pot, strong and black, with milk and sugar.
Keen’s Curry Powder must have been one of the most popular condiments in Australian households in 1970s. Along with tomato sauce (not ketchup) it was a pantry staple in my family’s household. It also formed the basis of dad’s meat and veg curries, made in the Crock-Pot! (A much earlier edition of this.) Until mum discovered a Charmaine Solomon curry recipe in the Women’s Weekly in the mid 1970s, which I remember her cutting out, and bought the 1977 edition of her Complete Asian Cookbook.
Keen’s Curry Powder was created by Joseph Keen, who arrived with his wife in Tasmania in 1843, where they concocted a range of condiments and sauces, which they sold from their shop. But it was the curry powder that won them a gold medal at the 1866-67 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition, an early ‘Expo’.
Curry powder had first appeared in the UK from the mid 1700s, appearing in recipes for the first time in Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Simple in 1747. The earliest record of curry powder in Australia came not long after the colonisers arrived, according to Frieda Moran, who researched the subject for her thesis, Ordinary and Exotic: a Cultural History of Curry in Australia.
Moran unearthed some fascinating records illuminating Australia’s early love for curry. In 1806, an auction announced in Sydney newspapers was selling curry dishes (vessels, not food), which suggests that readers would have been familiar with curry.
The researcher found another ad selling the spice blend in 1813: “CURRY POWDER. – A few Cannisters of lately imported CURRY POWDER, in high preservation, on Sale by J. Laurie, 18, Hunter-street, Price 1l. 5s. per Cannister, with directions for use; where may also be had the following spices; vis. NUTMEGS, CLOVES, CINNAMON, AND GINGER.”
Moran’s research revealed that curry powder was a regular feature of 19th century advertisements, and was actually a selling point. Another ad in 1821 for a business called Parr’s offered a range of imported edibles, including teas from China, sugar candy, coffee, cocoa, and chocolate, English hams and cheeses, along with capers, olives, olive oil, vinegars, a long list of spices, and curry powder.
Moran discovered that curry was not only known, but widely eaten, and would become common in Australian cookbooks and newspaper recipes in the 20th century when most included several curry recipes: “at the very least, curry powder was used in a preserve like chutney” or as a “sprinkle” on “Hash on Toast”.
Terence has opted for a ‘sprinkle’ of curry powder in his creamy curried egg sandwich recipe – whereas my dad and nanna thoroughly combined a heaped tablespoon or two of curry powder in their curried egg sandwich recipes.
I haven’t spotted Keen’s Curry Powder here in Siem Reap, so I bought Waugh’s Curry Powder, which Terence has been using in his creamy curried egg sandwich recipe. Waugh’s, dating back only to 1979, is apparently Thailand’s best-selling curry powder.
I’m tempted to make my own curry powder. After all, it’s just a spice blend and Keen’s contains turmeric, coriander, salt, fenugreek, black pepper, chili powder, rice flour, celery powder, and allspice. I’ll share it here when I do.
Tips to Making this Creamy Curried Egg Sandwich Recipe with Soft Boiled Eggs on Sourdough
Just a few tips to making this creamy curried egg sandwich recipe. Terence’s eggs are soft-boiled, rather than the hard-boiled eggs of my childhood.
Terence makes our soft boiled eggs very soft for his creamy curried egg sandwich recipe but you do them to your own preferred degree of softness using the timings in his guide to making perfect soft boiled eggs every time.
He then roughly chops and gently combines the soft eggs with mayonnaise, sprinkling the curry powder and chives on top.
Terence lays the curried egg mixture atop his lightly toasted, home-baked sourdough bread, rather than white bread, and serves it as an open rather than closed sandwich.
While I get nostalgic for the curried egg sandwiches of my childhood, Terence’s creamy curried egg sandwich recipe is sublime. The only thing I’d change is the Waugh’s. It really has to be Keen’s curry powder.
Creamy Curried Egg Sandwich Recipe with Soft Boiled Eggs on Sourdough
Ingredients
- 4 eggs - soft boiled
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 2 tbsp fresh chives or spring onions - finely chopped
- 1 tbsp whole egg mayonnaise
- ½ cup thinly sliced lettuce - we like a mix of frisée and lolo rosa
- 2 slices sourdough bread - toasted
Instructions
- Peel the cooked eggs, cut roughly then gently mash with a large fork.
- Add the mayonnaise and mix into the eggs.
- Sprinkle the curry powder over the mixture and add half the chives or spring onions. Season to taste.
- Brush the sourdough lightly with extra virgin olive oil and place the lettuce on the toast. Top with the curried egg and sprinkle with the remaining chives or spring onions.
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make our creamy curried egg sandwich recipe as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
This reminded me of my grandma’s egg sandwich, albeit your recipe has a different flavour profile. I didn’t savour a lot of curried dishes growing up. Great recipe as usual!
A thanks on behalf of Terence – what was in your grandma’s egg sandwich? She used spice?