Mama’s Punjabi Recipes: Ande di Bhurji (Spicy Scrambled Eggs)

Here is a very easy recipe that is also very fast to make. It comes in handy when you have a starving bunch of people who crave for the desi taste of food. All it takes is a few eggs and some desi spices and a few veggies to make a dish that goes well with rice but is especially tasty with hot desi bread. I have made it many times for my two grown grandsons and watched in delight as they finished the bhurji down with paranthas, roti or even heated wheat tortillas!

Eggs are, of course, popular all around the world. In India, which is a predominantly vegetarian country, some vegetarians do eat eggs (mostly on doctors orders) to supplement their protein intake. Egg stalls can be found all over the country in India, offering eggs in a wide variety of ways and sliced hot boiled eggs sprinkled with spices are big sellers in New Delhi during the winter months. Egg production has grown tremendously through large scale hen raising methods in huge farms. Still, most people visiting the country say that the eggs taste better in India.

Chicken eggs supply protein through essential amino acids, vitamins A, B2, B9, B5, B12, and choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. Vitamins A, D and E are in the egg yolk, which also has two-thirds of the recommended daily intake of 300mg of cholesterol. A large egg yolk contains approximately 60 calories; the egg white contains about 15.

You can make the bhurji using many different ingredients – some even put coconut milk in it – but the difference is that my recipe uses the spices and basic ingredients that we used in our ancestral village before the Partition and it retains a Northern Indian flavor. After trying this bhurji, you will never appreciate the bland taste of regular scrambled eggs again!

 

Ingredients:

• 3 large ande (eggs) (brown eggs have a better taste)
• 1 small aloo (potato)
• 1 small pyaaz (onion) (green onions may be used too)
• 1 small tamater (tomato) – soft ones are best
• 1 tablespoon of matter (peas) (optional)
• 2 teaspoons of vegetable or olive oil
• Spices (to taste): namak (salt), mirch (red pepper) and haldi (turmeric)

 

Directions:

1. Peel and cut the potato, onion and tomato into small cubes and keep them aside.
2. Heat the oil in a medium skillet and lightly brown the onions and potato in it.
3. Throw in the peas and tomato and let the vegetables cook a little bit, turning a little browner.
4. Now, crack open the eggs in the skillet and into the vegetables. Mix thoroughly, adding the salt, pepper and turmeric to taste. Stir till the liquid is congealed but the eggs must be mostly scrambled.
5. For best results, serve the bhurji with hot paranthas. This dish is also best eaten with hot roti.

 

MAMA’S TIP OF THE WEEK

TRY SOME SAFFRON TEA FOR BENEFICIAL EFFECTS!

There are many types of tea available all over the world, many with exotic ingredients like chamomile, rose petals and ginger. There is one ancient herb that is overlooked but has the ability to help with degradation of eyesight, especially as you grow older, and it gets difficult to drive and to read in insufficient light.

Saffron is often used in cooking pilafs or pilaus (steamed rice) and sweet dishes, but it is a natural herb that can treat age-related vision issues. Saffron improves blood circulation and memory; treats arthritis, regulates cholesterol and helps to clean the blood.

Just boil a cup of water, add in 1 gm of saffron and let it simmer for 1 minute. Stir in 1 teaspoon of honey and let it cool down, strain and drink every night before bedtime. Your eyesight should improve in 1 to 2 weeks.

 

Shakuntla Malhotra is a skilled cook of Punjabi dishes made in the old-fashioned style that she learnt as a young woman in her ancestral home in Lyallpur (since renamed Faisalabad), India before it became part of Pakistan after the Partition in 1947. People have often admired her cooking for its simplicity and taste that comes with each mouthful. Even in her mid-eighties, she continues to cook daily and agreed to share some of her delectable Punjabi recipes