Of Sunday ke Sunday and railway aamleets!

Well, if you’re feeling I’ve got too many eggs on my mind in the last couple of weeks – with TWO egg recipes AND an eggplant recipe, too bad – you’re in for more….!

Growing up in a vegetarian household where my doctor mom decided that eggs were “GUDDU” (good pronounced the Telugu way also means egg in Telugu – sorry couldn’t resist that one!!) for growing children, we fell completely in love with everyday ke ande! My brother has already raved about our master chef Panda’s omelettes in an earlier post – check it out at http://anuchenji.com/blog/ode-best-omeletter-world but other than a leathery “guddattu” ( egg dosa in Telugu) which i was once served at a friend’s house and nearly gagged on – it was full of turmeric and green chilies and curry leaves and cooked to within an inch of it’s life – I will eat pretty much any omelette . Even the ubiquitous “Railway aaamlet” which you find on every tiny platform in India makes me drool with anticipation. Once, when my aunt and I were traveling together, we lost our dinner bag – with roti, currry  and dessert! The disappointment was made up for – hugely – by the bread-aamlet we had on the Nellore platform – loaded with onions and green chilies and bread slathered with butter!

 

My kids have inherited my love for eggs and should I, by any chance, order less than a dozen or two eggs from my grocer’s every third day, he very kindly inquires after our health – in case we are sickening for something! 

 

I thought I’d eaten almost every kind of egg dish there was in the South of India till I came across the deep South “kothu paratha” on a road trip – a totally out of this world egg and paratha scramble. Here’s one of our favourite breakfast dishes today.

 

• 3-4 left over parathas – preferably laccha, or layer ones. The Tamil barotta is brilliant in this. If you’re calorie-conscious, we’ll make do with phulkas – torn into little pieces.
• Onions – chopped – 3
• Tomatoes – chopped – 2
• Green chilies – chopped – 3
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs – chopped
• Capsicum – chopped – 1 (optional)
• Garlic pods – minced – 2 (optional)
• Ginger – minced   1/2 tsp
• Eggs – well beaten with salt and a tbsp of milk – 4-5
• Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp
• Chopped coriander /mint – to dress
• Oil – 2 tbsp

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, curry leaves and green chilies and fry for 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic, ginger, tomatoes, red chili and capsicum and fry for another 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs and keep stirring. When the eggs are beginning to set, drop in the pieces of paratha and mix very well – beating the mixture with TWO ladles to the tune of ” “Meri jaan, meri jaan”!! When the eggs and paranthas are well incorporated, sprinkle the herbs on top and serve immediately.