Anda Bhurji, Indian-Style Scrambled Eggs

My first experience with anda bhurji was on a trip to Mumbai a couple years back.  Many street stalls serve this spicy egg scramble throughout the city at all times of the day in a buttered bun or pav with raw onion. 

I've been getting a half dozen eggs from my farmshare each week so this week, I thought I'd try to recreate this recipe in my own way. 

I scrambled my eggs with onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies, tomato, cilantro and threw in some fresh peppers that I got from my CSA.  Traditionally, spices like turmeric, garam masala, or pav baji masala, are also added along with a lot of butter, but I kind of wanted to just use fresh ingredients with less butter in my version.

I served my eggs in a brioche bun (I know fancy) with a little ketchup, Dijon mustard and a sharp cheddar cheese.

Anda Bhurji, Indian-Style Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
1 tablespoon ghee or vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
1-2 green chillies or 1/2 jalapeño, chopped fine
1/2 large tomato or 1 plum tomato, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

For serving
bun
Dijon mustard
ketchup
sharp cheddar cheese or gruyere

Method
Whisk eggs and milk and set aside.

In a non stick frying pan, add ghee under medium heat.  When hot, add in onions.  Stir fry until translucent.  Mix in ginger, garlic and chillies well. Fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Mix in peppers and fry for 1 minute. Toss in the tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes or until tomatoes are soft.

Add in the whisked eggs and scramble with the other ingredients.  Cook until your eggs are scrambled to your preference.

Turn off the heat and mix in the cilantro.

Add salt & pepper to your taste.

Serve in a toasted bun with ketchup, Dijon mustard and sharp cheddar cheese.

Masala Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I don't think I've roasted pumpkin seeds since I was really young. Although, it seems like a very American thing to do, I remember my grandmother when she lived with my family in New Jersey actually roasting the seeds for our family. She is and to this day meticulous about using every part of the vegetable - nothing goes to waste.



When I received this pumpkin in my farmshare, the thought struck me that I should roast the seeds instead of discarding them.



This pumpkin had a bit of character. When I cut it open, I felt like it was scowling back at me;)

Inspired by chili roasted peanuts I like to buy in India, I decided to mix the seeds up with ghee and a few different spices - my Great Aunt's garam masala (you can buy the powder ready-made as well), turmeric and chili powder and then bake them.

They came out really well - crunchy and spicy! I ended up throwing them into a lot of different dishes throughout the week, in addition to eating them plain - salads, soups, tacos and even in yogurt.

Masala Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons ghee or melted butter
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
salt to taste
squeeze of lemon (optional)

Method

Take seeds out of pumpkin and remove as much pulp as possible.

Wash the seeds in a colander to remove more access pulp and then lay them out on a paper towel to dry.

You can make them same day by just letting them dry for about 30 minutes and patting them dry.  You can also put them in the oven under a low setting, 200 degrees fahrenheit to dry them out completely, but make sure they don't start roasting.  I prefer storing them overnight so that they completely dry on their own.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit.

In a bowl, mix the seeds well with ghee, garam masala, chili powder, turmeric and salt.

Lay the seeds on a cookie sheet and place in the oven at 300 degrees fahrenheit. Occasionally turn the seeds over so that they are evenly roasted.  Keep an eye on them and if they start to pop, just lower the heat a bit.  Roast for about 30 minutes or until they are browned to your preference.  Pumpkin seeds come in different sizes and thickness so cooking times will vary.

Lay them out to cool completely.  They will get crunchier as they sit out and add more salt to taste or even a squeeze of lemon.  If you find that your seeds are a bit chewy after cooling, that means that they still have moisture in them and you should continue to roast them.

Eat the roasted seeds as a snack or sprinkle on salads, soups, yogurt, tacos!

ABCD's on Heritage Radio's Let's Eat In

Yesterday, I had my very first radio studio interview on the Heritage Radio program, Let's Eat In hosted by Cathy Erway.  Heritage Radio, if you are not familiar, has a number of shows that cover people doing all sorts of things in food and art.  I have been an avid listener of Cathy's show for some time so I was pretty excited to be a guest.

The Heritage studio is located at the back of Roberta's, a great pizza place that grows their ingredients on the roof of the restaurant, and I learned recently served Bill & Hillary Clinton! I've eaten pizza there many times, but this was my first time in the studio room, which you can spy from the restaurant's backyard.

On the program with Cathy, I talked about what The ABCD's of Cooking is all about, what I'm working on now and what my perfect date meal is like.  It was a lot of fun! Tune in here.