Eggs are an integral part of street foods

Over the years, street foods have invaded our lives. Any city in India or abroad boasts of a large variety of eatables and usually eggs play an important if not vital role. Eggs have always been a part of the menu right from the bachelor days. From simple boiled eggs to omelette and poach with the bright yellow undamaged yolk side up, eggs have always been the attraction. Boiled egg is the easiest to prepare – all it needs is a container to hold the egg, water and a heating medium like the gas stove or an electric heater. The omelette is a tasty dish – apart from the egg, there has to be additives that make the final product more tasty and attractive. These are usually onion, green chili, salt, coriander leaves and of course oil to fry. When it comes to the regular kitchen, eggs transform into scrambled eggs or egg curry or egg do-piazza.

Then there are the egg rolls one can find on display on trollies at street corners in Kolkata. Once upon a time, these used to be a craze but with the entry of other options like South Indian fast foods (the idli, dosa, upama, uthappa etcetera) and Chinese fast foods (the noodles, mo-mo chili chicken etcetera) there has emerged variety. Many have become self employed and these have solved the unemployment issue to a large extent. Coming back to eggs, one cannot ignore the delicious but difficult to prepare mughlai paratha – these require expertise. There is also the vanilla flavored egg puddings that are wonderful desserts. Of course, one cannot imagine cakes minus eggs. At times, the egg whites are beaten up and go to make the icing on cakes.

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Street food rules the roost, regular food joints must innovate to survive

Street foods have become a craze not only in India but also all over the world. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when the first street food outlet was born. There used to be jhal muri and fuchka at locations that had attractive footfalls like in front of cinema halls or parks. As far as my memory goes, one of the first street food outlets appeared in Kolkata in the 1970s. They came in the form of handcarts and the products used to be egg rolls. The owner was usually an unemployed young man who chose this method to earn a living. He did not have to pay any rent, employ people, or provide any seating arrangement. In fact, his overheads were minimum. He had to have adequate stock of ingredients like eggs, flour, cooking oil, onions, chilies, utensils, kerosene stove and kerosene etcetera. LPG was non-existent in those days. Of course, he might have had the blessings of people who matter. The fact is that the culture spread like wildfire. Restaurants had to innovate in order to survive the challenges posed by street food.

Taking food on the roadside with a background music of honking vehicles is a unique experience. The men and women who are clamoring for the food would be strangers and the heady fragrance of perfume might create a spell. It might force you to turn your head around for a moment. In the early days, street food outlets would open in the evening and the only problem would be the rainy season. However, with the passage of time things have changed. (To be continued ..)

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Bengalis rolled out the egg-roll culture

If I remember correctly, the egg-roll culture rolled out sometime in the mid-1960s and it caught the fancy of Kolkattans like wild fire. It must have been some bright eyed Bengali who discovered this method of keeping himself gainfully employed and earn a decent living. All it needed was the willingness to toil for six to seven hours in front the oven – and dish out egg rolls by the dozens to everyone from a school child to the grandmother.
It was a time when these trollies could be seen at eve street corner and the trollies would be stocked with trays of eggs, cans of cooking oil and ready-made paratha-like stuff made of a dough of maida. Plus, of course, the chopped onions, and chilies for the omelet.

There would be a huge frying pan placed on top of the stove and, once a customer arrives, one paratha would be placed on the frying pan and a little bit of oil would be applied at the edges. Then the beaten egg mixed with chopped onions would be poured over it. The combination would be rolled, wrapped in a paper and served- ready to munch.
It was a good and honest business and once the fad caught on, the demands branched out to mutton roll, and, occasionally, chicken roll – these depended on clientele.
Anyway, as long as these were individual initiatives, they went along fine until local goons descended on the scene. They began to demand a cut of the profits and followed up with threats to create problem if they were not kept happy. Needless to say – they had the backing of local political leaders.
Still – the enterprising individuals carried on and, over a period of time, they formed small groups and added other fast foods to their menu – fast foods of Chinese origin like chow mein, noodles, chili chicken, momo etcetera. And, began to operate all through the day – in shifts. They had a huge task to keep feeding the Kolkattans. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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The days of mughlai parathas

When I see the way fast foods have invaded our lives with outlets of international brands of pizza and chicken products proclaiming their wares via hoardings and ads in every conceivable media, I long for the days of mughlai parathas and kabiraji cutlets.
Both these used to rule the roost before the egg rolls, chili chicken and noodles snatched the customers and the restaurants that used to offer stuff like the mughlai parathas and kabiraji cutlets had to look for alternate items to retain the customer base. Therefore, most of them embraced the new age foods while many others had to shut shop.

I remember a couple of restaurants that held pride of place as far as Mughlai parathas were concerned. This eatable is a simple preparation of a paratha made of maida and stuffed with minced meat. It was not the ingredients but the method of preparation that held center stage. The lump of dough of maida was flattened to near paper thickness on a large marble slab. Once the cook, an artist by any means, was satisfied with the shape, he would put the requisite amount of stuffing of minced meat in the center, apply a light coat of beaten egg and then fold the ends to create the shape of a rectangle.
And – all these would be done in full public view because he would occupy a glass cabin located at the entrance of the restaurant. Once the paratha was ready, he would place it on a plate and the waiter assigned to the table would snatch it up and rush to serve it to the customer.
They would work with clockwork precision and come rain or shine, the cook would never leave his station – he was proud of his work and his owner was proud of him.
Unfortunately, those artists have vanished as have their creations. This is the age of buy-1-get-1 free where individuals do not count. (to be continued …)

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