Monday, December 11, 2006

Egg "Chutney" and Chapatis




Contrary to the obvious connotation this "chutney" has nothing to do with blending raw egg into a spicy sauce. I'm not even sure how my sister and I came up with this name but this was the title deemed to a humble (East) Indian style scrambled egg supper. Super quick, super easy and very flexible as far as the spices and ingredients go. Chapatis, unleavened bread made with whole wheat flour, are the poor man's staple in the northern part of India where wheat is the main cereal. In the south, where rice is prime, (especially in our house) chapatis are not too short of a luxury. And this has nothing to do with the price of the crop or anything (we lived in Kuwait where both were comparably priced), its just that my mom thought it was more labor intensive than rice. But being responsible for feeding only 2 mouths (self included), making chapatis from scratch is not too big a deal. I've seen all kinds of ready made Indian bread in many American stores (Trader Joes, Shaws) these days and of course this makes things super convenient. So if you have such a store nearby feel free to substitute, come to think of it, whole wheat tortillas will also work.



Egg Chutney
You will need:
4 eggs
1 medium onion
1 tomato
1 tsp chilli powder (or adjust to taste)
2 chopped green chillies (adjust spice to taste)
1/2 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (corriander) leaves
Salt to taste

Method
Saute sliced (lengthwise/diced) onion and chopped tomato together with chilli powder, garlic and salt. Fry till the onions begin to carmelize and the pulp of the tomatoes seperate from the peel (it will form a sort of nutty mass). Crack the eggs carefully into the pan with the onion-tomato paste. Stir until the eggs resemble sort of overcooked scrambled eggs. Add chopped cilantro. Serve hot.

Chapatis
2 cups of whole wheat flour
A pinch of salt
1/2 cup of water (approximately)

Method
Mix salt into the flour. Add water slowly, just enough to make a pliable dough. Knead for around 10 minutes (the longer, the better, but this should be about right). Pull out chunks of dough enough to roll into walnut sized balls. Flatten balls into discs around 5 inches in diameter (can be bigger or smaller depending on taste), I just flatten mine out till they are about 1 mm thick. Cook on a heated griddle till cooked and small brown bubbles form. I try to be healthy and eat these just so, but if you feel indulgent, just dot the chapatis with butter/ghee and they are simply delicious.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey m a new visitor to ur blog....thnks for sharing the recipes..i know the sme kind of egg dish which u psted..we call it as egg burji or anda burji which is the easiest and yummiest .
thnks again