Everything Par Eedu

Who doesn’t love scrambled eggs? Soft, fluffy, light eggs full of butter and milk- to be eaten with a tinge of guilt because really, butter isn’t allowed.

There are many different kinds of scrambled eggs one can make, some local to a region, some to a religion, some just to tastes. Take for example scrambled eggs with cheese and smoked salmon, or egg burji, which is a spicy dish eaten as a preferred breakfast item in India. I have to break here to tell you that Parsis love their eedu (the Parsi/ Gujarati word for eggs). I've heard stories of uncles and cousins and older relatives eating ten eggs a day and I'm not sure how exaggerated they are. Almost everything can be eaten 'par eedu' which translates to 'on eggs'... be it tomatoes, wafers, sali (fried potato straws), potato, bhindi, kheema... anything can become par eedu. One of my recent favorites is the Parsi version of scrambled eggs – Acoori. 

I say recent favorites because acoori is made with big pieces of chopped onions, which took a lot of getting used to. But get used to it I did. We make it on weekends out of town and eat it with local pao – both naram (soft) and kadak (hard) and butter. Its spicy, tangy and best left slightly liquid in texture – all the better for piling onto a piece of toasted bread and butter. I disgust my friends by eating any and all scrambled eggs with jam, but hey… that’s just me. (Have you tried a sausage egg McMuffin with jam? It will change your world.)

Egg McStuffin 

Khandala Acoori (makes enough for 2)

Made in khandala, please excuse the lack of coloured utensils.. we be roughing it! 

You will need

6 eggs

Way too many yellows!

2 tomatoes grated and chopped up

2 onions (or 1 very large one) finely chopped

1 handful fresh green chili finely chopped

ugh.. onion!

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 handful coriander (also known as kothmir also known as cilantro)

A splash of milk

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon haldi or turmeric powder

The masala box... needs refilling

Salt

Pepper

Step 1

Sautee the onion and garlic in a pan with a little oil until the onion is soft and translucent. (I avoid using butter, for some reason I just cant bring myself to do it.)

Step 1

Step 2

Add 1 teaspoon chili powder and 1 teaspoon haldi powder and let it cook for a few minutes. (You may need to add a little more oil here)

Step 2

Step 3

Add the chilis and the tomatos and stir. Give the masala time to cook – I would say 5 minutes or even slightly more in order to avoid the taste of chili powder later.

It should look like this 

Step 4

In a bowl, whisk the eggs together until they’re frothy. Add a splash of milk, salt and pepper and whisk again.

Whisked eggs

Step 5

Lower the flame on the pan and add the egg mixture. Start stirring very gently, but constantly.

Slowly stir the egg mixture

Step 6

The trick to making scrambled eggs is to keep taking the eggs off the heat, stirring all the while. It allows you to make the eggs as loose or tight as you want to.

Eggs off the heat

Step 7

Add the coriander a minute before you remove the eggs, and put in a large colorful bowl to serve.

Scraping everything out of the pan

Eat with bread, butter and most importantly… gusto! 

Finished product

Incredible Sandwich Weekend

If there’s one thing we don’t get enough of in India, it’s really good sandwiches. Sure, I can go to Indigo Deli and pay Rs 400 for a roast beef sandwich, or I can eat open sandwiches at the Pantry. There’s nothing that’s quick and easy to pick up and if anyone says Barista, Coffee Day or Costa I may have to hit you. Never has the name sandwich been so demeaned as at a coffee shop in India.

There are shops in Bandra (namely Candies) where its not unheard of to pick up good, cheap sandwiches but for the most part you’re left to fend for yourself. I don’t really mind doing that, because that’s when one can get creative.

Ham & Cheese Croissant

You will need

100 gms of sandwich meat – I like smoked turkey breast, honey smoked ham and regular bbq ham

1 croissant/ mini baguette/ burger bun

A handful of radiccio lettuce

A handful of rocket lettuce

1 tomato sliced into rounds

Slices of cheese – choose your cheese according to the meat you eat. I love Brie with ham, and port salut with anything. Other favourites include red leicster

Mayonnaise (if you wish)

Mustard

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

You can carry everything to work and make your sandwich there

Step 1

Slice your choice of break down the middle, so you can fold it open like a little book of bread (yum).

Break the lettuce up and mix well with a splash of olive oil, some salt and pepper.

Step 2

Spread the mustard on the inside of the bread, if you are using mayonnaise (im not allowed any at the moment) add that too.

Step 3

Start layering your sandwich from the bottom up.

Layer 1 – lettuce

Layer 2, sandwich meat

Layer 3  - cheese

Layer 4 – tomatoes

Add some olive oil and a little mustard

Layer 5 – a sliver more meat

Layer 6 – a handful of lettuce

Step 4

Close the sandwich as best you can, put on a plate and enjoy!

Home made turkey burger with whole wheat bread

I use olive oil to keep the bread soft if its been sitting in a box for too long. It also helps if the sandwich meat has dried out, and we have to face it – its healthy. I love layering sandwiches until they’re so big they can barely close. And they’re full of veggies, non fatty meat and a tiny bit of olive oil.

Open, Sesame!