The Egg Recipe

Ever since I moved out of my parents' home I did my best to learn how to cook as much on my own as possible. For the first few weeks I'd try to make something new just about every night and I ended up with quite a few Italian, Mexican and comfort food recipes that I felt I could cook relatively well. The one food category I stayed away from was Indian food, the reason being that I didn't think I could do the food justice or ever live up to the talents of my dad (him being from India).

Only very recently have Vinney and I tried our hands at Indian food and amazingly enough we've been met with relative success (her more than me). One item I've been able to prepare somewhat well (it's far from perfect) is my dad's Indian-style egg recipe. There have been some requests for this recipe so I will share it here today. I must first warn you, like all cooking involving my dad, the measurements are 100% estimated; I've done my best to characterize them into normal measurements (instead of things like 1 pinch of using Anand's Dad's fingers), but forgive me if the recipe doesn't work perfectly.

You'll need the following ingredients:

3 eggs
1 tbsp butter
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 of medium yellow onion finely chopped
1/2 tbsp cumin seed
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp paprika (or chili pepper powder for spicier eggs)
1 tsp lemon juice
fresh chopped cilantro

If you're not familiar with any of the above ingredients (primarily the spices) they can be purchased at any local Indian food store. They tend to last for a very long time and are useful in just about any type of Indian cooking so it doesn't hurt to have some on hand. The next thing to note is that my "1 tsp" measurements are best estimates, I don't believe you'll need less but you may need closer to a tablespoon of the spices. These eggs are very much a make and taste experiment, for the most part you can't go wrong with varying the proportions of any of the spices - play around and tweak the recipe to your liking.

With that said, here's what you do:

1) Crack and beat 3 eggs, add about a teaspoon of water and continue to beat until the water is mixed into the eggs (you can add milk instead if you'd like, this will make for better scrambled eggs regardless of the recipe)

2) Put the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Melt the butter in the oil.

3) When the butter is completely melted, add the chopped onions. There should be enough oil in the pan for the onions, you can add more if necessary.

4) Add the cumin seed and continue to sauté the onions until translucent. The point here is to soften up the cumin seed and the onions, so make sure you do so before you add the eggs later on.

5) Add the turmeric, garam masala and coriander powders, combine them with the rest of the ingredients.

6) Add the tomato paste and combine it with the rest of the ingredients. It will take a little while for the tomato paste to break up enough to be thoroughly mixed in. You just want to make sure that it's not in one huge clump at this stage, get it somewhat broken up and you'll be able to continue to mix it in once you add the eggs.

7) Add eggs and start scrambling immediately, you may find it beneficial to turn down the heat a bit here.

8) While scrambling add paprika/chili powder and lemon juice. As eggs begin to take form, add the chopped cilantro (about a 1/2 - 1 tsp should be fine) and scramble it in.

9) Continue to cook until the eggs are no longer liquidy.

You can also add some salt if you'd like as well as any other spices, but this is the basic recipe. Let me know how it turns out if any of you do end up trying it.