Unique egg recipes and menus to celebrate the Parsi New Year

This Parsi New Year, we are celebrating the Parsis’ immeasurable love for a staple — eggs or eedu with recipes to try as well as menus to order in from

Urvaksh Hoyvoy, founder of Lower Parel’s Parsi da Dhaba, likes his eggs scrambled to perfection. The results aren’t subjective; the eggs must have an almost custard-like texture. “The consistency must be soft and creamy. If you overcook it, it will taste like cardboard,” he explains. 

If you didn’t already know, the Parsis take their eggs or eedu as they refer to it, very seriously. “Yes, the Parsis have a strange affection for eggs; it’s more a passion than just food,” he remarks, emphasising on the word ‘passion’. “I think the reason for this could be because we love a robust breakfast like Parsi poro, which is a hearty omelette or kheema per eedu, a spicy minced meat dish with a fried egg on top that must have a [soft] yolk. I’ve also heard stories of people eating a dozen eggs, scrambled, for breakfast,” he jokes.

Urvaksh Hoyvoy

So what is the secret to a good egg? Hoyvoy shares, “Eggs are quite a difficult protein to cook because the moisture evaporates very quickly, so you need to cook it on a low flame and with lots of patience.” A pinch of salt is added towards the latter stage of preparation; if you salt the eggs as you begin cooking them, you will change the texture — a pro tip from him.

Hoyvoy shares the recipes and memories of his favourite dishes, one of which is the Bharuchi akuri. These aren’t the same recipes used at Parsi da Dhaba but dishes that he cooks with at home. “Bharuchi akuri includes dried fruits — roasted almonds, cashew nuts, kishmish — that give the dish a sweet, sour and nutty flavour. I avoided eating it when I was younger because which child likes nuts in their food?
But I distinctly remember tasting a little from my mother’s patra [banana leaf] at a wedding. I came home and asked her how it was cooked. Now, I cook it for my kids.”

Kheema per eedu

Ingredients
>> 1 kg mutton (minced)
>> 1 large onion (finely chopped)
>> 2 small tomatoes (finely chopped)
>> 2 to 4 small potatoes (chopped and boiled)
>> 1/2 cup frozen green peas
>> 200 gms tomato puree
>> 4 small green chillies
>> 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
>> 1/4 cup fresh mint
>> 1/4 cup coriander
>> 1.5 tbsp cooking vegetable oil
>> 1 tsp turmeric powder
>> 1 tsp red chilli powder
>> 1 tsp garam masala
>> 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
>> 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
>> 1 tsp cumin powder
>> 1 tsp coriander powder
>> 10 eggs

Method
Marinate the mince with salt, ginger garlic paste and red chilli powder. Mix well and let it rest for 30 minutes. In a wide pot, add oil and onions and cook until they are translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook for about seven minutes till the moisture evaporates. Then, add the mutton mince and mix it into the tomato and onion mixture. Cook on a high flame for about two to three minutes. It will release water. To this mix, add all the spices — garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom powder into the meat. Add boiled potatoes and peas, and mix well. Add half or one cup of water, cover the pot and let the mixture cook for 30 minutes. Once it is cooked, add chopped coriander and mint. Take 150 gms of the cooked kheema and add a fried egg on top with bell peppers and cheese.

Bharuchi akuri

Ingredients
>> 3 to 4 eggs  
>> 1/2 tsp cashew nuts (broken and roasted)
>> 1/2 tsp almonds (broken and roasted)
>> 1/2 tsp raisins (broken and roasted)

Method
After the dry fruits are roasted, mix them into the eggs with a pinch of salt. You can also add fresh green garlic, if it is in season.

Eat the eedu

>> Omelette pav and Irani kheema per eedu
At Parsi da Dhaba, Lower Parel
Call 9167861630
Cost Rs 190 onwards

>> Scrambled eggs
At Dinshaw’s  Xpress Cafe, Oshiwara, Andheri West
Call 9820636865
Cost Rs 369

>> Akuri cheese toast
At Jimmy Boy, Bank Street, Fort
Call 7068891891
Cost Rs 180

Bharuchi akuri

>> Bharuchi akuri on sourdough toast (Chef Viraf Patel’s modernist Parsi pop-up)
Till August 20
At Neuma, Colaba
Call 7031493333
Cost Rs 750 (akuri), Rs 2,000 onwards (set menu for one person)

Kheema per eedu

>> Eggs on Salli, kheema per eedu and Bharuchi akuri
At Ideal Corner, Fort. 
Call 9930260703
Cost Rs 180 onwards

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