The really good scrambled eggs!

If you’ve grown up in an average north Indian home, chances are you would’ve also had the kind of scrambled eggs that I grew up having...you know, with oil, onion, tomato and salt? And, like me, perhaps, you also hated it but continued having it, anyway. (I’m too polite for my own good, I tell you.)

There wasn’t much to like about the way these scrambled eggs were made or tasted but, as a child, democracy and rights aren’t words and concepts that one is either familiar with or knows the meaning of...if one can pronounce them in the first place. (This reminds me of the time, must’ve been when I was in Class I, when I struggled to say “Congratulations” to a classmate, who, incidentally, had pipped me to first position and whom my father insisted I should call and congratulate. So, not only did I have to suffer the indignity of eating the bitter humble pie at an early age and conceding defeat to a smug foe, I also had to suffer the humiliation of offering something I neither understood nor was able to pronounce. As a mark of rebellion against such inhumane treatment, I resolved never to feature in the top ten of my class, school or college list ever again. And, I’m glad to report, till the end, I never made the toppers’ lists again!) Anyway, like it or not, if something was served, you just had to eat it.

As soon as I was able to assert my right to freedom of choice, I started to cook eggs the way I liked them...without onion and without tomato. (The former is very high on the list of things I dislike with a passion, especially in its uncooked avatar. Mouth jackers, that’s what they are!) I don’t know if I’m right in assuming this but, when cooked in combination, onions and tomatoes tend to make the eggs a bit gooey, which, I’m afraid, I don’t like very much. Anyhow, without these two ingredients, the eggs started to turn out fine. Fine, and infinitely more edible, but still boring and unadventurous. But, since I didn’t know any other way, I continued with the same old routine – break eggs into bowl, add some salt, whip it, add a dash of milk, whip some more, pour it into the pan, fry, add some pepper and eat with toast. Like I said, this was the only way I knew.

Early last year, while watching TV, I found another way to make scrambled eggs. It was only slightly different from my way but there was a huge difference in the way the eggs finally turned out. For a change, the end product not only started to look edible, it also started to taste good! There’s nothing fancy about it and, perhaps, some of you who cook well may even find it too simple but, for me, it’s just perfect!

Anyway, if you’re going to try making it, this is what you’ll need to make enough for one person:

2 eggs
The leafy part of a spring onion, chopped
8-10 pepper balls, crushed coarsely
Salt
Butter
Cheese, if you like
Milk
Chopped mushrooms, if you like (I don’t, not in my eggs)

Break the eggs in a bowl and beat well. Add salt, to taste (some people like to sprinkle it over the eggs when they’re done. I prefer to add it right at the beginning.) Beat some more. Add milk, again, to taste. (I use a lot of it.) Beat some more.

Melt some butter in a pan, which should be kept on a medium low fire. When the butter is hot, add the egg mixture to the pan and scramble it around. After it starts to solidify a little, add the cheese. Drop in the spring onion leaves soon after. Move the whole thing around nicely in the pan. Add the pepper and switch off the heat. Serve immediately with whatever you eat your eggs with.

Adding the leafy part of the onions at that late stage may seem odd but, believe me, it works really well, making the eggs nice and crunchy. And, colourful. When made well, the finished product looks golden in colour, is fabulously soft, smells great and tastes even better!

If you’re going to try it, I hope you like it...if not, well, you can blame your cooking skills :-)

(And, TR, you'd better try this now!)