How to make the perfect boiled egg?

“I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you're twenty minutes.” OSCAR WILDE

Before you scoff at me for writing this post - a properly boiled egg with a little sprinkle of salt and pepper is one of the simple joys of life and equally easy to mess up. Had with toast, or just by itself as a mid-day snack, or in your kid's lunch box, it's wholesome, easy and hardly takes any special effort. 

My earlier method of boiling an egg was to place it in a pan full of water and boil the hell out of it for 10 odd minutes, drain and peel. While this works well, the egg sometimes turns rubbery and the unpleasant grey sulphur ring inside that makes it so unpalatable.

The full credit for my current technique goes to Mark Bittman and his book 'How To Cook Everything Vegetarian'.

So here are my tips on getting the perfect boiled egg

1. Buy the best quality eggs you can get.
2. It helps if the eggs are not utterly fresh. A few day old eggs are so much easier to peel off than fresh eggs.
3. Place the eggs in a deep pan. Cover them with tap water.
4. Place this on the stove. 
5. Bring the water to boil.
6. They say swishing the water in the pan in circles helps center the yolks, in case you plan on making deviled eggs.
7. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, turn off the flame. Cover with a fitting lid and let it sit for 10 minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of chilled water for 10 minutes. This prevents the grey sulphur ring.
9. Crack the egg at several places on counter top or with a spoon and peel off the shell or place in refrigerator until you need to use them.

5 things you can do with boiled eggs

1. Quarter them and add them to salads. Egg and potato salad is a delicious combination, but you don't have to restrict yourself to this alone.
2. Make egg curry
3. Saute sliced ginger, garlic, onions until the onions caramelise and add quartered boiled eggs to this, with seasonings to make Burmese style egg appetiser.
4. Dip boiled egg in batter and deep fry to make delicious egg bhajji.
5. Slice the boiled egg. Slice a tomato. Make egg & tomato sandwich.

What are your favourite things to do with boiled eggs?

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Crustless Quiche using homegrown Swiss Chard

Crustless Chard Quiche 

There's something wonderful about quiches, they fit perfectly as a meal for any time of the day - be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. The only thing that probably deters people from making this is the mess (well, a little) of making and blind baking the crust and the quantity of butter that goes into it and the thought of burning all that butter off the next day on the treadmill. Well, may be that's just me but yes, if the crust is eliminated, the quiche becomes healthy, quick while still tasting delicious. It's also a great way to use up spinach, mushrooms, corn and bits of any cheese you may have in the refrigerator. 

Freshly plucked swiss chard

I used chard because they were just plucked that evening, all fresh and luscious green, you could by all means use spinach, or a combination of other greens and add any other lightly sautéed vegetables like zucchini or bell peppers to this. A spinach quiche is also the best way to make kids eat their greens up without much fuss.

Recipe for Crustless chard quiche 

Adapted from a recipe on Food.com

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

3 cups of roughly chopped chard (include tender stalks too) or spinach

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3 medium sized eggs

3/4 cup milk 

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup cheese (grated or crumbled, as per the cheese used. I used fresh mozzarella, crumbled)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground pepper

Handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped or 1 tbsp dried herbs (Oregano and thyme)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a 6" pie dish or a baking tin.
2. In a pan, heat olive oil. Add the sliced onions and garlic, lightly saute for 3-4 minutes on medium flame, until onions are soft. 
3. Add the chard or spinach and saute for 2-3 minutes until just wilted.
4. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, herbs well and add the crumbled cheese.
5. Transfer the chard mix from the pan into the bowl and mix with a fork.
6. Pour into the greased pie dish. Top with bread crumbs, more freshly ground black pepper and dried herbs and bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

Serve with a salad for a light lunch. 

Crumbled feta pairs well with spinach and it's a classic combination in Greek cuisine. 

You can easily scale up the recipe and bake in a bigger dish with increased baking times. Leftovers make great breakfast, just microwave for 30 seconds or so before serving.

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Poro - the jewelled Parsi Omelette

Parsis love their eggs. Well, that is an understatement. Their Akuris are made with a dozen eggs into a tall frittata stuffed with onions, coriander and chillies that suffices the entire family at breakfast. Poro is an omelette that is as beautiful as the Parsi women. I'd like to christen it the Jewelled Omelette.

24.03.07 Update -
While browsing in the Crossword bookstore this afternoon, I flipped through Katy Dalal's Jamva Chaloji - A Parsi cuisine cook book and she recommends that you have the Poro with chips, buttered bread and sour limes. This is one dish that Parsis make when the whole family is together for breakfast or also for a dinner when they are too lazy or tired to cook anything elaborate. Poro is also made on days when they must abstain from meat or fish.



Poro
Category - Eggs , breakfast
Time taken - Under 30 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source - Best ever curry cookbook by Manjula Baljekar

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ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 fresh green chillies, finely chopped
a few sprigs coriander, chopped, plus some more for garnish
1 firm tomato, chopped
1 small boiled potato, cubed
1/4 cup boiled green peas or frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup sweet corn, cooked / microwaved
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup grated cheese (optional)
salt and ground black pepper

directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large pan. Fry the next nine ingredients until well blended but the potato and tomato are firm. Season with salt and ground black pepper.

Turn up the heat and pour the beaten eggs. Reduce heat, cover and cook till the bottom layer is golden. *Turn the omelette and let turn the heat to low. Let this cook for some 5 minutes.

*If you have a grill or broiler, you could turn the omelette to the other side, sprinkle cheese and place under a hot broiler until eggs are set and cheese is melted.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve it for breakfast in true Parsi tradition. Along with a salad, this would serve good for lunch too.

This is my entry for WBB # 9 - Eggstraordinary breakfast at Live to Eat

Not forgetting about my Friday Food Video for you, its more eggs coming your way.

How to make the perfect Egg Bhurjee - Indian style scrambled eggs brought to you by Alfred Prasad, Head chef at London's Michelin-starred Tamarind restaurant.




If you cannot view the video, click here to see it.

Tags: Eggs, Parsi cuisine, Omelette, breakfast, WBB, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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