Make These Egg Dishes In Your Kitchen; You Would Love It !!

Andey Ka Funda or Sunday Ho Ya Monday; Roz Khao Andey…..have been the slogans which we all have heard since long. Rightly so, those who enjoy eggs, these sound music to the ears. So, here today, I bring you a few interesting recipes done with Eggs in my kitchen. The article today has a three-variant Egg Biryani, a Parsi Papeta Par Eeda and Turkish Eggs. If you want to try these amazing dishes in your kitchen, this article is for you. Even if you want to learn about these egg variants from three different communities, simply read on.

Me, a North Indian Punjabi, have been exposed to a very limited use of Eggs in our kitchen. It was confined to Omelette, Boiled Eggs or at the most Fried Eggs. When I grew up and started exploring food, I came to know about various variants of egg. This humble egg can be used in myriad of forms and today I share with you some recipes which you could try in your kitchen.

Egg Biryani With Three Egg Variants

This story today is again linked to a Food Group called, Spicetrailz, on Facebook. So, in the second phase of the series called, Kitchens Of India, I was nominated to do Egg Biryani with my own twist. Before, I come to the recipe, here’s what my recipe video which featured on the group and carried the following post:

“Our friend Kamlesh Tiwari aka Guddu made an awesome Egg Biryani n his first nomination is our dear friend n always smiling Rajesh Tara a big time foodie n a fantastic cook, he twisted the dish in his own fabulous way, I don’t  think anyone would have even thought of what he did…”

So, I made an Egg Biryani or Anda Biryani which had Three Variants of Eggs. Although the description is there in the video above, I share my recipe here for you to try.

Recipe

This is a bit elaborate and time consuming process which has some pre-preps (Mise en Place). Here we go:

Pre Prep Stage

Biryani Masala (the base)

1. Take 3 medium sized Potatoes, peeled and boiled. Cut 2 out of them into half and keep aside.
2. Take 5 Eggs and boil 4 out of them. Peel them and keep aside.
3. Soak Rice and par boil them and keep aside.
4. Finely slice 2 medium sized Onions and deep fry them till they become crispy golden brown. This is your Birista for the Biryani.
5. In the same oil in which you fried the onions, fry the eggs so that a golden colour covers them. Take them out and keep aside.
6. In the same pan, fry the half sized cuts of the potatoes so that a golden colour covers them. Take them out and keep aside.

Heat some oil and ghee in a pan. Add some pan roasted spices such as Bay Leaf, 8-10 Pepper Corns, 2-3 Green Cardamoms, 1 Black Cardamom, One inch stick of Cinnamon and 5-7 Cloves. Once they become dark, add some finely chopped Onions and fry till they become translucent. Add 2 finely chopped Green Chilies and 2 tbsp of Ginger–Garlic paste. Keep stirring till done and the raw small is gone.  Now add 2 finely chopped Tomatoes and fry for a minute. Add Coriander Powder, Red Chilli Powder,  Biryani Masala Powder mixed in 2tbsp of Curd and some water. When the masala is about to cook (oil is about to separate), it’s time to treat it with a special ingredient.

Now here comes the first variant of the Egg.  Out of the 5 eggs, we had boiled only 4. Break the fifth egg in a separate bowl and beat it.  Now, start adding, spoon by spoon, the beaten egg to the masala and keep mixing.  Please ensure that the egg is not visible.  Therefore it is very important to add small quantities of the beaten egg so that the masala takes the flavour of egg without egg strings being visible.

Now we are ready to assemble our Biryani and keep it on Dum.

Assembly of Biryani

Put a Tawa on the flame.  Put a vessel on the tawa and transfer the prepared Biryani Masala (don’t forget to save 2 tsp of masala out of this and keep aside for the third variation). Make a bed of the masala at the bottom of the vessel.  Now spread a layer of half of the par boiled rice.  Over the rice, place fried cuts of Potatoes, Two Boiled Eggs (the second variant of egg) which we had fried and sprinkle a generous amount of Birista (fried onions). Sprinkle some Biryani Masala Powder over it.  Now again spread a layer with the remaining rice. Sprinkle a generous amount of Birista. Take Desi Ghee in a spoon and pour it on the sides so that it drips down. Take one fourth cup of milk which have saffron soaked in it. Spread it over the rice.

Now take a damp cloth and cover the rice. Place a heavy cover over the vessel and keep it on Dum (cooking in steam) slow flame for 10-15 minutes.

During this time, it’s time to prepare the Nargisi Kofta (our third variant of Egg). Take the balance two boiled eggs and cut them in to halves.  In a pan heat some butter and add the saved 2 tsp of Biryani Masala. Scoop out the hard yolks from the egg halves and add into this masala and mix.

Now mash the third boiled potato and season of with salt and black pepper. Keep some bread crumbs ready in a plate.

Now add the Biryani Masala back into the yolk cavity, join back the halved eggs, coat it with the mashed potatoes followed by a coating of bread crumbs. Now fry these eggs till the coating turns golden brown. Take it out and keep aside.

Now is the time to check our Biryani. Remove the lid and the cloth. The Rice would be fully cooked now. Close the flame. With a delicate hand, insert the spatula from one side of the rice and mix it gently by taking it out from the middle and turning it towards the same side from where it was inserted. Mix the entire dish  gently so that all the layers get mixed and the rice grains do not break.

Transfer the Biryani in a dish and garnish it with the Nargisi Kofta. Your three egg variant Egg Biryani is ready to be enjoyed.

Papeta Par Eeda 

Parsi Community has a special love for Eggs. They use egg in anything. Its for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Egg could be found in anything, including desserts. I love the Egg Akuri. Then this variation of Egg, Papeta Par Eeda is a complete meal in itself.

Recipe

In a pan add a little Oil and then add Jeera and chopped Green Chillies. Then  add finely chopped Onions and sauté them. Then add finely chopped Tomatoes and Salt and Parsi Sambhar Masala (a Parsi speciality which I sourced from an authentic source). Once tomatoes are soft, layer them with sliced Potatoes. Add a little water and cover and cook on slow flame. Once the potatoes are done, break two Eggs over them, sprinkle Salt and Black Pepper and cover till Egg whites are set and the Yolks are still a bit runny. Sprinkle chopped Coriander and serve in the same pan. Add Wafers & Sullie (potato strings) on the side and enjoy with toasted bread slices.

Turkish Eggs

I came across on the social media, a simple yet good looking Egg Recipe called Turkish Eggs Kapama. This intrigued me further to do a bit research which led me to yet another Turkish Egg Recipe called Turkish Eggs Cilbir. So here are the two recipes for you to try.

Kapama

Hard boil 2 Eggs and peel. Cut these into halves and keep aside.

Now, in a pan heat over slow flame 1 tbsp of Oil ( I used Olive Oil), and add 1 tsp Red Chili Powder, 1/2 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Turmeric Powder and mix.

Once everything is mixed, gently place eggs, one by one with the yolk side down.

Cook the eggs from both the sides. Should take about 5 minutes or so. Ensure that the masala is evenly coated on both the sides and the eggs have the colour of the spices.

Take out of the pan and serve.

Cilbir

This is a unique combination of various flavours and needs some preparation and assembling before you could enjoy it. I got the recipe from the net and then adopted it with the ingredients I had at home. So, may not be absolute authentic and yet, is quite there.

Step 1

Take a 2 tbsp of Greek Yogurt ( I took Hung Curd). Grate 1 clove of Garlic in it. Add Salt to taste and 1/2 tsp of Black Pepper Powder. The recipe say, add some Dill as well but I skipped it.

Now mix all the ingredients and keep aside.

Step 2

Heat some Butter over a slow flame in a pan. Then add some Chili Flakes (Smoked Paprika) and some Cumin Powder. Mix it thoroughly so that the Butter takes the colour of the Chili.

Take off the flame and keep aside.

Step 3

Crush some fresh Parsley ( I took fresh Coriander) in a mortar, add 1 tbsp of Olive Oil, a pinch of Salt and 1/2 tbsp of diced Jalapeno Pepper.

Mix all the ingredients and keep aside.

Step 4

Poach or Fry 2 Eggs, season it with Salt and keep aside. I did Sunny Side Up.

Assembly

In a plate, spread a round bed of the Yogurt Mix like we do for a dosa. Take the help of spoon to spread it so that the Yogurt bed has some depressions in it. Now drizzle some Parsley-Jalapeno Oil all over. You would start getting the wonderful colours of the dish. Now carefully place the two Eggs on this bed. Now drizzle some Melted Butter which we prepared. Since I used salted butter, no more salt was needed. If you are using unsalted butter, you may sprinkle some Sea Salt.

The dish would have White, Orange, Green, Olive, Red hues, all in one. It is delight for the eyes and is amazingly delicious. The creaminess of the yogurt, flavours of garlic, peppers, chilli when mixed with runny yolks and olive oil and butter, it gives a play of textures and flavours on the palate.

Today, the blog post is a bit longer (compensates for all the gaps so far) and yet gives some interesting ideas. Try these out and share with me. And if you have some more interesting recipes with eggs, do share with me. I will like to try those. Till then…

Bon Appetite !!

Rajesh Tara

MagicOfFlavours